Latest Disaster planning and response News

FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2019, file photo, an evacuee lies on a cot at an evacuation shelter for people with special needs, in preparation for Hurricane Dorian, at Dr. David L. Anderson Middle School in Stuart, Fla. Local officials across the South are still scurrying to fix their hurricane evacuation and sheltering plans because of changes needed due to coronavirus and a cratering economy. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Many states scrambling to update hurricane plans for virus

May. 31, 2020 7:22 AM EDT

Officials across the U.S. South are still scrambling to adjust their hurricane plans to the coronavirus. The big unknown: Where will people fleeing storms go? The Associated Press surveyed more than 70 counties and states from Texas to Virginia, with more than 60% of coastal counties saying as of late May that...

Philadelphia police, left, confront protesters during the Justice for George Floyd Philadelphia Protest on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody on Memorial Day, after an officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Fires set, stores damaged as peaceful protests turn violent

May. 31, 2020 12:21 AM EDT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Thousands of people gathered in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh on Saturday to protest the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, but the peaceful demonstrations later turned violent with police cars set ablaze and protesters smashing store windows and journalists attacked. Both cities...

An old military truck used during flooding sits parked at the Carlos Escobar Lopez vocational school which will be used as a shelter during this year's hurricane season in Loiza, Puerto Rico, Thursday, May 28, 2020. Caribbean islands have rarely been so vulnerable as an unusually active hurricane season threatens a region still recovering from recent storms as it fights a worsening drought and a pandemic that has drained budgets and muddled preparations. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)

Battered Caribbean prepares for hurricanes amid pandemic

May. 29, 2020 1:03 PM EDT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricanes. Earthquakes. COVID-19. Caribbean islands have rarely been so vulnerable as an unusually active hurricane season threatens a region still recovering from recent storms as it fights a worsening drought and a pandemic that has drained budgets and muddled preparations....

In this May 21, 2020, photo, grave diggers bury a body at Radwan Cemetery in Aden, Yemen. At a cemetery in Yemen’s largest southern city, dozens of fresh graves are a testament to a spike in deaths amid the coronavirus pandemic. The cemetery workers who bury them don’t know what killed the newly deceased. But there’s no denying that there's been an increasing number of people getting sick in the port city of Aden — likely from the coronavirus. (AP Photo)

The Latest: UN urges $2.4 billion in aid for war-torn Yemen

May. 29, 2020 1:31 AM EDT

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. TOP OF THE HOUR: — UN urgently appeals for $2.4 billion to help Yemen cope...

FILE - In this Oct. 29, 2019 photo, Agriculture commissioner Nikki Fried speaks at a pre-legislative news conference in Tallahassee, Fla. Fried, the only Democrat holding statewide office in Florida, upbraided Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday, May 28, 2020, for keeping the state Cabinet “in the dark” by failing to convene the panel to discuss the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon, File)

Absence of pandemic on Florida Cabinet agenda is hot topic

May. 28, 2020 6:10 PM EDT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only Democrat holding statewide office in Florida, upbraided Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday for keeping the state Cabinet “in the dark” by failing to convene the panel to discuss the state's response to the...

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers a brief update on the dam breach and flooding throughout mid-Michigan counties at Meridian Elementary School in Sanford on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. (Kaytie Boomer/The Bay City Times via AP)

Governor orders probe of failed dams that caused flooding

May. 27, 2020 6:56 PM EDT

West Bloomfield, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday demanded an investigation to determine what caused two dams in central Michigan to fail, leading to devastating floods in several communities and forcing about 11,000 people to evacuate their homes. Whitmer ordered the Michigan Department of...

FILE- This Dec. 3, 2018, file photo, shows homes leveled by the Camp Fire line the Ridgewood Mobile Home Park retirement community in Paradise, Calif. Pacific Gas & Electric limped into bankruptcy vilified for its long-running neglect of a crumbling electrical grid that ignited horrific Northern California wildfires that left entire cities in ruins. After nearly a year-and-a-half of wrangling during one of the most complex bankruptcy cases in U.S. history, it’s unclear if PG&E is now any better equipped to protect the 16 million people who rely on it for power. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)

PG&E nears end of bankruptcy amid persisting safety worries

May. 26, 2020 7:26 PM EDT

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric limped into bankruptcy vilified for its long-running neglect of a crumbling electrical grid that ignited a succession of horrific Northern California wildfires. After nearly a year-and-a-half of wrangling during one of the most complex bankruptcy cases in...

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, wearing a face mask amid the new coronavirus pandemic, stands amid supporters taking pictures with cell phones as he leaves his official residence of Alvorada palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, May 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

In Bolsonaro's Brazil, everyone else is to blame for virus

May. 25, 2020 10:37 PM EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — With Brazil emerging as one of the world's most infected countries, President Jair Bolsonaro is deflecting all responsibility for the coronavirus crisis, casting blame on mayors, governors, an outgoing health minister and the media. By contrast, he portrays himself as a clear-eyed...

A villager clears tree branches fallen in front of his house after Cyclone Amphan hit the region, at Baguranjalpai village in East Midnapore district in West Bengal state, India, Friday, May 22, 2020. People forgot about social distancing and crammed themselves into government shelters, minutes before Cyclone Amphan crashed in West Bengal. The cyclone killed dozens of people and the coronavirus nine in this region, one of India’s poorer states. Even before the cyclone, its pandemic response was lagging; the state has one of the highest fatality rates from COVID-19 in India. With an economy crippled by India’s eight-week lockdown, and health care systems sapped by the virus, authorities must tackle both COVID-19 and the cyclone’s aftermath.(Debasis Shyamal via AP)

Recovery begins after storm ravages Indian, Bangladesh coast

May. 23, 2020 1:40 PM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Authorities began clearing roads and assessing damage on Friday after Cyclone Amphan barreled through coastal communities in eastern India and neighboring Bangladesh, killing more than 100 people and leaving millions displaced. In India's West Bengal state, which bore the brunt of the...

A health worker checks a computer screen at the COVID-19 test department of the Broussais Hospital in Paris, Monday May 11, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly pledged the country would be able to test up to 700,000 people per week as key to the re-opening process, but so far the number of people tested is much lower and the effective capacities in the country remain vague. (Alain Jocard, Pool via AP)

The Latest: UN warns cybercrime on rise during pandemic

May. 23, 2020 12:43 AM EDT

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. TOP OF THE HOUR: —UN warns cybercrime on rise during pandemic. —South...

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