Palouse area nonprofits focused on helping with emergency food and the arts have had their funding frozen or cut.Read More
After about five years in the works, the Pierce County Council adopted a new Comprehensive Flood Hazard Management Plan that broadens the scope of what kinds of flooding the county will plan for – from coastal to urban flooding.
Angela Angove is the floodplain and watershed services manager with Pierce County Planning and Public Works. She said different types of Read More
In the foothills of Mt. Rainier runs the Carbon, the Puyallup and the White Rivers, meandering through towns and cities, along roadways and near homes, the paint strokes of the natural environment now surrounded by a human-built ecosystem. Once tightly restricted by levees, these rivers are beginning to again flow closer to how they would have, not adhering to the confines Read More
Washington Rep. Steve Tharinger of the 24th district became intimately acquainted with levee setbacks when he discovered the levee protecting his house on the lower Dungeness River was not only not protecting his house, but harming the ecosystem too.
“I sold my house and the five acres in a barn we had, so that we'd have more room to move that levee back and give the Read More
Homeowners in Whatcom County have been waiting nearly two years for relief from flooding that devastated communities in northwest Washington and parts of Canada — and now, they have to wait even longer.
Federal funding was supposed to come this week for 12 homeowners whose houses were destroyed during the November 2021 flooding. However, it’s been delayed, again. Read More
A team of search and rescue personnel based out of the Pierce County Department of Emergency Management deployed to Hawaii Friday after President Joe Biden ordered federal aid to the state to help areas impacted by devastating wildfires.
The 45-person FEMA team is made up of emergency responders and other professionals trained in search and rescue from Pierce and King Read More
There is a new option to escape a tsunami if you’re on the southwest coast of Washington when the Big One strikes. The Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe on Friday dedicated a 50-foot tall evacuation tower in Tokeland, Washington. Tribal leaders and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said the new tsunami refuge platform should be an example and inspiration for other Read More
Close to 200 federal, state and tribal emergency preparedness planners gathered around a giant map of the Pacific Northwest this week to rehearse and critique the federal response plan for "The Big One." The three-day Cascadia earthquake discussion exercise partially replaced a much bigger planned dress rehearsal that was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.Read More
Last year, former President Trump refused to approve a routine disaster declaration for Malden because he was feuding with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat. So that federal aid didn't start arriving until after President Biden took office and he finally signed the order.Read More
What started as a slow trickle of people became a flood of cars over Easter weekend at the FEMA vaccination center in Yakima. And as April 15 approaches (when all adults are eligible for vaccination in Washington), some Seattleites are heading East for a coveted Covid-19 shot.Read More
Yakima County will soon get a boost to its existing vaccine distribution at an existing site set up at county fairgrounds. But unlike other sites around the state managed directly through the state, including in the Tri-Cities, Wenatchee and Spokane, the Yakima site will have the support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Read More
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved disaster relief requests for nine eastern Washington counties and two Native tribes impacted by summer wildfires. That includes aid for the Whitman County towns of Malden and Pine City, which burned during a Labor Day wildfire that was fanned by high winds.Read More
After some politicking and tweeting — these are blue states, after all — California and Oregon's major disaster declarations were mostly quickly approved. But it's now been 71 days since Washington Gov. Jay Inslee petitioned the president, and there's been no response, not even a denial.Read More
At least 711 nursing homes reported running out of N95 masks at the end of May, and 1,963 said they had less than a week's worth. "The federal government has got to step up," says one advocate.Read More
Last fall's deadly Camp Fire has brought renewed questions about whether towns in high-risk areas like Paradise, Calif., should even be rebuilt.Read More
NPR analyzed records from a Federal Emergency Management Agency database of more than 40,000 buyouts and found that most went disproportionately to whiter communities.Read More
More than two months after the Camp Fire, the small city of Chico, Calif. is struggling to handle an influx of an estimated 20,000 new people from neighboring Paradise. Read More
Tyndall Air Force base, home to 11,000 airmen and their families, sustained catastrophic damage when Hurricane Michael came through earlier this month. Residents don't know if they will ever go back.Read More
Government and nonprofit agencies work in advance of storms to create distribution networks for critical aid, but the Category 4 storm damaged key communications and transportation infrastructure.Read More
Trump called Florence "one of the most powerful and devastating storms ever to hit our country" and promised federal support for disaster relief. "There will be nothing left undone," he said.Read More
