Tag Archives: Disaster Relief

Parts of the Appalachian Trail are still damaged after Helene. Volunteers are fixing it by hand

Parts of the Appalachian Trail are still damaged after Helene. Volunteers are fixing it by hand

UNICOI COUNTY, Tenn. (AP) — Volunteers are still rebuilding parts of the iconic Appalachian Trail in eastern Tennessee nearly a year after Hurricane Helene devastated the region. Two damaged spots along the trail require hikers to take detours. A group of volunteers and staffers with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and local groups worked on repairs at a spot on the trail near the destroyed Cherry Gap Shelter in mid-July. Volunteers say their priority is fixing root ball holes in the ground caused by fallen trees. The work is intensive and slow. But the group hopes it can improve the trail’s resiliency against future severe weather.… Continue Reading

Severe weather in tropical storm’s wake triggers North Carolina state of emergency

Severe weather in tropical storm’s wake triggers North Carolina state of emergency

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina election officials are taking steps to tighten up voter registration records in a pivotal swing state. On Thursday, the State Board of Elections launched an online database of 103,000 voters who need to add their driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers to the state records. Requirements for the numerical identifiers have been in place since 2004, but an outdated voter registration form helped lead to missing information. The state board is seeking to collect the ID information in part to address a lawsuit by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department. Critics worry the process could disenfranchise voters.… Continue Reading

20 states sue FEMA for canceling grant program that guards against natural disasters

20 states sue FEMA for canceling grant program that guards against natural disasters

Twenty Democratic-led states have filed a lawsuit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency over the cancellation of a disaster mitigation grant program. The federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in Massachusetts claims President Donald Trump’s administration acted illegally by ending the program in April. The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program funds projects such as flood protection, wildfire prevention and earthquake safety. FEMA called the program wasteful. But supporters say it can help save lives and reduce costly damage from disasters. The lawsuit alleges the Trump administration violated constitutional separation of powers by ending the program without congressional permission to do so.… Continue Reading

Trump tours Texas flood sites and defends officials as questions mount about response

Trump tours Texas flood sites and defends officials as questions mount about response

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — President Donald Trump is visiting Texas to assess catastrophic flooding that has killed at least 120 people. Despite his past calls to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Republican president has praised the federal response to the disaster. Trump plans to tour affected areas by air, meet first responders and speak with victims’ families. Top members of Trump’s administration have also shifted focus from reducing federal disaster management efforts to addressing the tragedy’s human impact. Before Trump left on Friday, his director of the Office of Management and Budget suggested FEMA needs reform but didn’t answer questions about whether the agency should be shuttered.… Continue Reading

Mourning begins in Texas where more than 170 are still missing from flash floods

Mourning begins in Texas where more than 170 are still missing from flash floods

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Sadness is settling in across Texas where at least 120 people have died from flash floods and more are missing. A growing memorial wall in the Hill Country includes photos of those have died. The search for more victims moved slowly Thursday as stifling heat and mounds of trees, hunks of lumber and trash made the task more difficult. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called on state lawmakers to approve funding for new warning systems and emergency communications in flood prone areas. The devastation stretches from the Hill Country all the way to just outside the state’s capital city. President Donald Trump plans to visit on Friday.… Continue Reading

Harrowing stories of rescue emerge from Texas floods as crews search for over 160 reported missing

Harrowing stories of rescue emerge from Texas floods as crews search for over 160 reported missing

HUNT, Texas (AP) — Texas police described some of the harrowing rescues they conducted after flash floods engulfed camps and homes in the state’s Hill Country. An officer who was trapped himself spotted dozens of people stranded on roofs and waded out to bring them to safety. That’s according to a fellow officer who spoke Wednesday to a news conference. Another off-duty officer tied a garden hose around his waist so he could reach two people clinging to a tree above swirling floodwaters. More than 160 people still are believed to be missing and at least 118 have died in the floods. The floods are now the deadliest from inland flooding in the U.S. since 1976.… Continue Reading

More than 160 people are still missing after deadly Texas floods, governor says

More than 160 people are still missing after deadly Texas floods, governor says

HUNT, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says more than 160 people are believed to be still missing days after flash floods killed more than 100 people across central Texas. Abbott says many of those who are not accounted for were staying in the state’s Hill Country but did not register at a camp or hotel. The big jump in the number of missing came after authorities set up a hotline for families to call. Abbott says search crews will not stop working until everyone is located. He says the 161 missing were believed to be in Kerr County. That’s where most of the victims have been recovered.… Continue Reading

3 potential storm deaths in North Carolina after Chantal, officials say

3 potential storm deaths in North Carolina after Chantal, officials say

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Officials in North Carolina say there were three potential storm-related deaths amid flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal. North Carolina Emergency Management spokesperson Justin Graney says state health officials are working on confirmation of the deaths in Chatham, Orange and Alamance counties. During a visit to Mebane in Alamance County on Tuesday, Gov. Josh Stein said the storm destroyed homes and impaired businesses and lives were lost. He says officials are still assessing the scale of the damage and working on a final number of deaths. Officials say crews are working to restore power, utilities and road access.… Continue Reading

Hope of finding Texas flood survivors dims as search efforts go on

Hope of finding Texas flood survivors dims as search efforts go on

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Hope of finding survivors of the catastrophic flooding in Texas is dimming a day after the death toll surpassed 100. But crews have kept up the search for people missing in the aftermath. The search efforts benefited Tuesday from improving weather. The storms that battered the Hill Country for the past four days began to lighten up, although isolated pockets of heavy rain were still possible. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott planned to make another visit Tuesday to Camp Mystic, the century-old all-girls Christian summer camp where at least 27 campers and counselors died during the flash floods. Officials said Monday that 10 campers and one counselor have still not been found.… Continue Reading

Death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas over the July Fourth weekend surpasses 100

Death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas over the July Fourth weekend surpasses 100

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas over the July Fourth weekend has surpassed 100 as the massive search continues for missing people. In hard-hit Kerr County, home to Camp Mystic and several other summer camps, searchers have found the bodies of 84 people, including 28 children, Kerr County officials said. Meanwhile, search-and-rescue teams carried on with the search for the dead, using heavy equipment to untangle trees and wading into swollen rivers. Volunteers covered in mud sorted through chunks of debris, piece by piece, in an increasingly bleak task.… Continue Reading

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