I expect it depends on how much trust you put into long range climate and weather forecasts. But, here is a Washington Post article, Dreaming of snow this winter? Look up the forecast in your area

This is not official, but all over the news on Tuesday, “South Dakota Gov. KRISTI NOEM will be President-elect DONALD TRUMP’s pick for DHS Secretary.”

Either we are having intensive rain someplace or very dry, verging on drought conditions in other parts of the nation. This time however, both coasts of the United States are dealing with wildfires brought on by extremely dry conditions, that when combine with high winds can be very destructive to the landscape, but also homes that stand in the way of these fires.

Normally as emergency managers we think about the impacts of wind on what is called “real property” buildings, homes and infrastructure. If there is damage to the landscape it comes in different forms, but usually we think about trees that have fallen on houses and cars that need to be cleaned up and removed. What we might call “normal debris removal.”

Fiscal years vary across the map. Some end in June, others in December and the federal budget ends in September. In all those scenarios, it is true that there can be a “spend it or lose it” mentality.

The election is over! The future starts very soon—January 2025.

I woke up this morning and started thinking about election day. I was thinking about the title of this blog post, “Elections and Emergency Management.” What is our role if any? Are we totally “consequence management” available if needed? And, then for what purpose?

These five steps come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Most people have to learn the FEMA process only once. If you are doing it more than once—you might consider moving!

Today while working outside in the rain…I was listening to this Disaster Tough: Emergency Manager & City Councilmember Brenden Winder | Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand  In that podcast episode of the Disaster Tough Podcast they explore that concept in Emergency Management and Response as we hear from Brenden Winder from New Zealand.

An often repeated “warning” I’ve shared in this blog is that the first place where emergency managers get in trouble with a disaster response is in issuing a warning. Many times, it is a “failure to warn” that starts the process of screwing up a disaster response. Citizens are not very forgiving of an agency that failed to warn of a potential or impending warning.

It is normal for a crisis debrief to occur following some harrowing disaster, accident or death. Many times, these are “one time” events. Watching how people respond to these types of occurrences, which can be cumulative for some, there needs to be more attention paid in the weeks and months that follow. We all process things differently.

Homes “perched” right near a river. Stories about, “They lived there for 60 years” and never had an issue with flooding. It was not just flood waters but also landslides that took houses and lives away. Bodies were being found miles away, and even in a neighboring state.

By now, anyone following the events of Hurricane Helene and the disaster response in the mountains of North Carolina know that disinformation caused all sorts of havoc for the disaster response and for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in particular.

New grant programs are not just “hatched” just because. There is almost always an event that causes law makers and administrators to implement a new grant program. That is very true for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP)

The day will come when drones are in the news for doing something very bad!

•           22% of American workers don’t receive any emergency preparedness training

•           Nearly 1 in 4 say their company doesn’t have a written emergency preparedness plan

•           Of those who have a plan, 28% say it’s not regularly tested or updated

Duh! By simple common sense we would likely all agree that who ever is taking a risk, should be responsible for the consequences of their risk taking. However, that is not how the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) currently works.

In this podcast Pete Gaynor, the immediate past Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security shares what he knows about how the national disaster response system functions. The roles and responsibilities of local, state and the federal government. We also dive into some of the malicious lies being told about FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene and Milton.

The purchase of a home is likely the biggest investment that individuals and families will ever make during their lifetimes. In this podcast we discuss navigating the potential risks of a disaster impacting the property you might purchase and how to avoid making a home buying disaster.