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After Hurricane María, Centro Esperanza became Loíza’s hope
LOÍZA, Puerto Rico — For Sister Cecilia Serrano Guzmán, director of Centro Esperanza in Loíza, on the north coast of Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria was unprecedented in its level of destruction — to both the town and its people.…
Air Force volunteer organization provides valuable post-disaster damage assessment
That is the first thing that agencies try to assess after a disaster hits, whether it is damage assessment of a tornado, flooding, fires, volcanoes or ice . Damage assessments allow emergency responders to develop a full picture and the areas that were hit the worst.…
Amateur radio continues to prove crucial during disasters
The day after Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle, James Lea, a freelance TV cameraman, was driving through the area for work, listening to the ham radio in his car, when he heard state officials asking for any amateur radio operators in Calhoun County to respond to the city emergency operat…
Arkansans create Facebook group to fast-track flood recovery
TILLAR, Ark. — River levels rose with each passing hour. Residents of waterfront towns hurriedly packed sandbags and shoved them up to the foundation of their homes. Meteorologists on television warned that the Arkansas River was about to reach levels that hadn’t been seen in decades.…
California’s wildfire survivors go online for mental health aid
SONOMA, Calif. – After the Tubbs Fire of October 2017 burned more than 30,000 acres of land and killed 43 people, Sonoma County, California, began referring residents to a new online site for mental health help.…
Church groups mobilize to rebuild Houston homes
HOUSTON – Some 1,180 miles from their hometown, a group of schoolchildren stood on the front porch of a house in Independence Heights north of downtown Houston.…
Community groups help homeless cats weather disasters
KINSTON, N.C. – The abandoned motel outside Kinston, North Carolina, stands as a grave reminder that this small town on the banks of the Neuse River regularly sees flooding.…
Drone usage on the rise in wildfire fighting
MIAMI, Ariz. — The hum of aerial drones was a soundtrack to the month it took to contain the Woodbury Fire in June, which burned its way to becoming the fifth largest wildfire in Arizona history.…
Florida family opens home to all after disasters strike
The decision to open their five-acre backyard in Youngstown, Florida to house victims of Hurricane Michael was a no-brainer for Shelly Summers and her family.…
Floridians struggle to find affordable housing post-Hurricane Michael
LYNN HAVEN, Fla. – As the sun began to set over Lynn Haven, Florida, Phillip Ingram settled into his love seat, cigarette in hand.…
Having faith when disaster strikes
BUCKSPORT, S.C. – As a resident of Bucksport, Nelisa Geathers and her home endured a variety of disasters from Hurricane Matthew to a major flood to an ice storm.…
How a Midwestern community is healing itself
Stephen McCullough grabbed his cellphone to call his mom in case he survived one of the deadliest tornadoes in history, and his wallet in case his corpse needed identification.…
How one pet shop became a fish sanctuary after an ice storm
LANSING, Mich. — He’s been living in pet shops his entire life, including the one he owns now. Preuss Pets, which Rick Preuss opened in 2006, is a landmark of Lansing’s Old Town neighborhood.…
How volunteers helped rebuild West Virginia’s bridges
CLENDENIN, W.Va. — When the flood created an endless waterfall off the hillside behind her trailer home on June 23, 2016, Libby Shafer had to quickly improvise.…
In Snow Country, Snow Removal Crews are Often First Responders
With a tourism-based economy centered around Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, the resort town of Mammoth Lakes, California, relies heavily on snow to attract visitors.…
In small S.C. towns, people struggle to stay after historic floods
BUCKSPORT, S.C. – Rosetta Davis belted out gospel lyrics while tapping one hand on the altar. On the other side of the room, her husband Deacon John Davis played the guitar. Sunday service had started but the water-stained pews remained empty inside the Victoria Chapel Holiness Church in Bucksport, …
Journalism students from 19 universities investigating disaster recovery
Thirty-seven top journalism students from 19 universities are at Arizona State University this summer conducting a major investigation into disaster recovery in the U.S. as part of the Carnegie-Knight News21 multimedia reporting initiative.…
Man’s house withstood a tornado, but an electrical fire took it out
Kirby Schumacher remembers feeling lucky after a tornado ping-ponged through his hometown of Beavercreek, Ohio, on Memorial Day. Except for bunches of fallen trees on the front yard, his house was mostly intact.…
One woman, two natural disasters
FLAT ROCK, Mich. – Patricia Buffone wakes up every morning and thanks God for being alive.…
Panama City man struggles with the mental toll of the storm
PANAMA CITY, Fla. – The 80-foot pine tree stood on the edge of Greg Dossie’s Panama City, Florida, property his entire life. Storms came and went. Hurricanes, too. Still, the giant pine remained.…
Reading into natural disasters: how bookstores weather the storm
When Jamie Anderson took over Downtown Books, a bookstore in Manteo, North Carolina, in 2012 it had flooded eight times in 25 years. The last flood, from Hurricane Irene, filled the store with 36 inches of water, pushing the previous owner to sell the business.…
Rural San Diegans plan for next wildfire — and horse evacuation
ESCONDIDO, Calif. — Strung together by a spindly four-mile road, Elfin Forest Harmony Grove has one main route in and out. And during the 2014 Cocos Fire, traffic ground to a halt, preventing residents from evacuating.…
Small businesses take a big hit after Maryland town floods twice
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — These were the first things Dave Carney said when he called his wife during the 2016 Ellicott City flood:…
Stubborn levee rewarded with key to city in Arkansas
LOLLIE BOTTOMS, Ark. — The city of Conway, Arkansas, has itself a new superhero.…
The fish bowl in Dillon, S.C.
DILLON, S.C. — In the late 1800s, businessman John W. Dillon negotiated a deal with a railroad company to lay tracks on his land. This land and the surrounding area became what is now Dillon, South Carolina.…
The “island mindset” of a resilient Iowa community
ABEL ISLAND, Iowa – Simply put, Abel Island is an unlikely place to live. Surrounded by the Mississippi River on three sides, the northeastern Iowa community, which is mostly a summer retreat, boasts an airstrip and unparalleled boating access.…
What Hurricane Katrina taught Louisiana about foster care
NEW ORLEANS – Among the more than 450,000 people living in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck, at least 2,000 of them were foster children, making up nearly half of Louisiana’s foster care population.…
Wildfire-vulnerable communities adapt to ever-present threat
PINETOP-LAKESIDE, Ariz. — Learning to live fire-wise is a cause for celebration in wildfire-vulnerable areas. Especially in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona, which is in the process of becoming one of the country’s next fire adapted communities.…