Breaking News: Hurricanes

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When hurricanes strike, loss of electricity ranks as one of the top concerns for relief workers. New work, described in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, looks to develop a strategy for how floating devices that harness the energy of ocean waves might be able to provide this much needed aid. A researcher at Johns Hopkins University is studying a new approach to supplying electricity that both potentially provides a way of optimizing recovery efforts and poses questions about how relief is currently conducted in disaster areas.

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Following a natural disaster or strong storm, there is usually a second wave of potential destruction – scam artists looking to line their pockets.

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Governments seeking to help their most vulnerable residents prepare for hurricanes and other disasters should create community-based information campaigns ahead of time, according to a Rutgers study of economically disadvantaged New Jerseyans in the areas hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy.

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As more rain falls on a warming planet, a new computer model shows that it may not take a downpour to cause widespread disruption of road networks. The model combined data on road networks with the hills and valleys of topography to reveal “tipping points” at which even small localized increases in rain cause widespread road outages.

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In the wake of Hurricane Maria, radiation oncologists from the mainland United States and Puerto Rico prepared a set of crisis-planning tips for radiation therapy clinics to minimize gaps in cancer treatment after a catastrophic event. Their emergency preparedness suggestions were published online April 15 in Practical Radiation Oncology.

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In this issue of AJPH, find research on lead levels in NYC public housing, Hurricane Maria causes of death, Ohio refugee lead levels, and politics and public health

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Hurricane Maria dropped more rain on Puerto Rico than any storm to hit the island since 1956, a feat due mostly to the effects of human-caused climate warming

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The City and County of San Francisco (CCSF) is partnering with experts from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Silvestrum Climate Associates to assess how climate change may influence the intensity of atmospheric rivers and associated precipitation, and how those changes may impact San Francisco and its infrastructure.

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A new, free, open-source software reliably predicts how damage from hurricanes, ice storms, earthquakes, and other extreme events will restrict power delivery from utility grids. The Severe Contingency Solver for Electric Power Transmission is the only software available—commercially or open-source—that reliably supports analysis of extreme events that cause widespread damage.

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According to the Notre Dame study, 62 percent of coastal homeowners are not considering taking any action to reduce the vulnerabilities of their homes or enhance protections against future hurricanes.

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Dr. Don Resio, University of North Florida professor of ocean engineering and director of the Taylor Engineering Research Institute in UNF’s College of Computing, Engineering and Construction, has been recognized for his lifetime achievements in marine meteorology.

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From its lifesaving properties that bind humanity to its geographical connections through tributaries, rivers and waterways eventually flowing into the ocean, water is a connecting force. It can also be a destructive power that connects people through disaster response and recovery.

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“Canada to Key West,” a 2,350-mile walk to raise awareness about the impact of increasingly frequent extreme weather events will start on June 21, 2019, the day of the summer solstice.

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A first-of-its-kind study on Twitter use during 5 of the costliest U.S. natural disasters offers potentially life-saving insights. The research, in PLOS ONE, finds that Twitter users with small networks (100-200 followers) increase activity more than those with larger networks in these situations. It also finds that each disaster type (hurricanes, tornadoes, floods) has a unique pattern of social media use.