The new head of FEMA warned staff in a meeting Friday not to try to impede upcoming changes, saying that “I will run right over you” while also suggesting policy changes that would push more responsibilities to the states.

The new head of FEMA warned staff in a meeting Friday not to try to impede upcoming changes, saying that “I will run right over you” while also suggesting policy changes that would push more responsibilities to the states.
Groundwater Pumping Is Contributing To The Subsidence Of Major U.S. Cities
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https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/05/08/climate/sinking-cities-us-causes-groundwater.html <-- shared media article
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-025-00240-y <-- shared paper
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#water #groundwater #subsidence #city #cities #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #engineeringgeology #engineering #risk #hazard #pumping #overpumping #waterresources #USA #America #sinking #infrastructure #damage #cost #economics #repais #mitigation #sealevelrise #flood #flooding #foundations #urban #remotesensing #earthobservation #satellite #elevation #measurement #change #vertical #movement #geology #soils #model #modeling #prediction #waterresources #farming #agriculture #watersupply #industry #well #riskassessment #landuse #monitoring #management #utilities #growth #population #demographics #construction #sprawl
"April storms that killed 24 in US made more severe by burning fossil fuels – study
Study finds human-caused climate change made four-day rainfall across central Mississippi valley 40% more likely"
#climatecrisis #fossilfuels #death #storms #flooding
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/08/storms-mississippi-valley-climate-change-study
Trump Shuts Down 25 USGS Centers That Monitor Drought and Flooding Throughout the Country https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-usgs-cancellations.html
'Unheard-of' Storm Brings Months of Rain to 2 States
Story by Anna Skinner, May 5, 2025
"An 'unheard-of' storm has flooded parts of southern Oklahoma and northern Texas after dumping 14 inches of rain in some cities over seven days.
"Two cities in #Oklahoma and one in #Texas broke their April rainfall records after receiving months' worth of rain during the unusually wet spring storms.
"The record levels come after more than a week of rain brought a deluge to parts of Oklahoma and Texas. Although the heavy precipitation helped remedy drought across the region, it also sparked severe impacts, including rising river waters that have now been flooding for more than a week.
"Weather warnings of dangerous #floodwaters remain in place across the region, with some not expiring until 'further notice.' The floodwaters have endangered livestock, closed roads, and inundated #farmland."
https://www.europesays.com/uk/76893/ Fire and rescue services attend thousands of flooding incidents #Britain #ClimateChange #England #flooding #GreatBritain #london #LondonFireBrigade #UK #UnitedKingdom
Flood Advisory
National Weather Service Phoenix AZ
1244 PM PDT Sun May 4 2025
...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 445 PM PDT THIS AFTERNOON...
* WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall is expected.
* WHERE...A portion of southern California, including the following
counties, Riverside and San Bernardino.
* WHEN...Until 445 PM PDT.
* IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas.
Ponding of water is occurring or is imminent.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...
- At 1244 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to
thunderstorms. Minor flooding is ongoing or expected to begin
shortly in the advisory area. Up to 1 inch of rain has
fallen.
- This includes the following streams and drainages...
Seco, Arroyo.
- Some locations that will experience flooding include...
Desert Center, Chiriaco Summit and Eagle Mtn.
- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood
deaths occur in vehicles.
Please report observed flooding to local emergency services or law
enforcement and request they pass this information to the National
Weather Service when you can do so safely.
&&
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25136526.farmer-risked-everything-fighting-scotlands-wild-beavers/
Real evidence on Ardgaty that beavers on your land help control flooding
While I think a lot of observers make too much of the supposed ideological differences between the "populist" white nationalist faction, and the pro-billionaire techno-fascist contingent in the Trump regime, it's hard not to notice that some of the DOGE recommendations and other funding cuts look like class warfare made literal, with expected casualties. In a move that makes precisely zero sense from a perspective of protecting Americans living through the early stages of climate catastrophe, the Trump regime has ordered the closure of twenty-five science centers that monitor water levels to combat flooding and drought.
Trump officials gut 25 centers that monitor flooding and drought in the US
"The Trump administration has ordered the closure of 25 scientific centers that monitor US waters for flooding and drought, and manage supply levels to ensure communities around the country don’t run out of water.
The United States Geological Service (USGS) water science centers’ employees and equipment track levels and quality in ground and surface water with thousands of gauges. The data it produces plays a critical role across the economy to protect human life, protect property, maintain water supplies and help clean up chemical or oil spills.
The targeted centers are part of a larger network, and the Trump administration based its decision to make cuts on leases near expiration, not scientific reasoning, said Kyla Bennett, director of science policy with the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility non-profit that is tracking the issue."
I think I do a pretty good job of distinguishing the things I know, from the things I suspect, here on this blog; so perhaps what I'm about to say here is speculative, but please note that my observations are absolutely informed by people like Elon Musk openly articulating his belief that we're in a racialized war for the future of humanity, which is going to happen on Mars apparently. That noted, it's hard for me not to notice that an absolutely huge portion of the regime's slash and burn agenda is clearly a targeted type of quite literal class warfare; they're actively burning down anything that keeps poor and labor class people alive, while funneling money directly to billionaire tech-fascists, increasing military funding, and rapidly expanding a fascist police state. The result of these policies on a long enough timeline will quite obviously be the deaths of more labor class people, and a further entrenchment of power for the ruling class reactionaries; and suggesting that might be intentional would sound like a conspiracy theory if the billionaire nazis surrounding and populating the Trump regime, guys like Musk, Peter Thiel, JD Vance and so forth, didn't keep saying the quiet part out loud.
Finally, while I'm not sure this is newsworthy, I couldn't willingly write up this story without marveling at what I'm sure one of the wildest things quoted from The Guardian in the paper's long history:
“It’s not being done with any thought about human life, it was just ‘this seems so woke so let’s get rid of it,’” Bennett said. “People think water is free and comes out of your tap whenever you want, but it’s not that simple.”
Yeah, water is "woke" is a thing now apparently; may whatever gods you believe in have mercy on our souls.
CA #wildfires: a warning to #NRC on #ClimateChange
January 16, 2025
"The NRC’s actions to address the risks from natural hazards do not fully consider potential climate change effects on severe nuclear accident risks. 'For example, NRC primarily uses historical data in its licensing and oversight processes rather than climate projections data,' the GAO report said.
"Beyond Nuclear has uncovered similar findings during our challenges to the NRC’s extreme relicensing process for extending reactor operating licenses, now out to the extreme of 60 to 80 years and talk of 100 years. We found that the agency’s staff believes and stubbornly insists that an #environmental review for climate change impacts (#SeaLevelRise, increasingly severe #hurricanes, extreme #flooding, etc.) on reactor safety and reliability is 'out of scope' for the license extensions hearing process.
"The GAO report points out to the NRC that wildfires, specifically, can dangerously impact US nuclear power stations operations and public safety with potential consequences that extend far beyond the initiating natural disaster. These consequences can include loss of life, large scale and indefinite population dislocation and uninsurable economic damage from the radiological
consequences:
" 'Wildfire. According to the NCA (National Climate Assessment), increased heat and drought contribute to increases in wildfire frequency, and climate change has contributed to unprecedented wildfire events in the Southwest. The NCA projects increased heatwaves, drought risk, and more frequent and larger wildfires. Wildfires pose several risks to nuclear power plants, including increasing the potential for onsite fires that could damage plant infrastructure, damaging transmission lines that deliver electricity to plants, and causing a loss of power that could require plants to shut down. Wildfires and the smoke they produce could also hinder or prevent nuclear power plant personnel and supplies from getting to a plant.'
"Loss of offsite electrical power (#LOOP) to nuclear power stations is a leading contributor to increasing the risk of a severe nuclear power accident. The availability of alternating current (AC) power is essential for safe operation and accident recovery at commercial nuclear power plants. Offsite fires destroying electrical power transmission lines to commercial reactors therefore increase the probability and severity of nuclear accidents.
"For US nuclear power plants, 100% of the electrical power supply to all reactor safety systems is initially provided through the offsite power grid. If the offsite electrical grid is disturbed or destroyed, the reactors are designed to automatically shut down or 'SCRAM'. Onsite emergency backup power generators are then expected to automatically or manually start up to provide power to designated high priority reactor safety systems needed to safely shut the reactors down and provide continuous reactor cooling, pressure monitoring, but to a diminished number of the reactors’ credited safety systems. Reliable offsite power is therefore a key factor to minimizing the probability of severe nuclear accidents.
"The GAO identifies a number of US nuclear power plant sites that are vulnerable to the possible outbreak of wildfires where they are located. 'According to our analysis of U.S. Forest Service and NRC data, about 20 percent of nuclear power plants (16 of 75) are located in areas with a high or very high potential for wildfire,' the GAO report states. 'More specifically, more than
one-third of nuclear power plants in the South (nine of 25) and West (three of eight) are located in areas with a high or very high potential for wildfire.' The GAO goes on to identify 'Of the 16 plants with high or very high potential for wildfire, 12 are operating and four are shutdown.'
"To analyze exposure to the wildfire hazard potential, the GAO used 2023 data from the U.S. Forest Service’s Wildfire Hazard Potential Map. 'High/very high' refers to plants in areas with high or very high wildfire hazard potential. Those #NuclearPower stations described by GAO as 'high / very high' exposure to wildfires and their locations are excerpted from GAO Appendix III: Nuclear Power Plant Exposure to Selected Natural Hazards.
Table 1: Potential High Exposure to “Wildfires” at Operating Nuclear Power Plants
–AZ / #SAFER, one of two mobile nuclear emergency equipment supply units in the nation, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–CA / #DiabloCanyon Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–FL / #TurkeyPoint Units 3 & 4 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–GA / #EdwinI. Hatch Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–GA / $Vogtle Units Units 1, 2, 3 & 4, nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–NC / #BrunswickNPP Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–NC / #McGuire Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–NC / #ShearonHarris Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH /VERY HIGH”
–NB / #Cooper nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–SC / #Catawba Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–SC / #HBRobinson Units 1 & 2 nuclear power station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–WA / #ColumbiaNuclearPower station, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
Table 2: Potential High Exposure to “Wildfires” at Shutdown Nuclear Power Plants
–CA / #SanOnofre Units 1 & 2, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–FL / #CrystalRiver, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–NJ / #OysterCreek, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
–NY / #IndianPoint Units 1, 2 & 3, “HIGH / VERY HIGH”
"Wildfires can transport radioactive contamination from nuclear facilities
"A historical review of wildfires that occur around nuclear facilities (research, military and commercial power) identifies that these events are also a very effective transport mechanism of radioactivity previously generated at these sites and subsequently released into the environment by accident, spills and leaks, and careless dumping. The radioactivity is resuspended by wildfires that occur years, even decades later. The fires carry the radioactivity on smoke particles downwind, thus expanding the zone of contamination further and further with each succeeding fire. The dispersed radionuclides can have very long half-lives meaning they remain biologically hazardous in the environment for decades, centuries and longer."
cc: @Cyclist @stfn @collectifission
Read more:
https://beyondnuclear.org/ca-wildfires-are-a-warning-to-nrc-on-climate-change/
Weather tracker: State of emergency as high winds and floods hit New Zealand https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/02/weather-tracker-state-of-emergency-as-high-winds-and-floods-hit-new-zealand #Extremeweather #Europeweather #Climatecrisis #NewZealand #Flooding #Europe
See why Germany’s Ahr wine region needs our help https://www.diningandcooking.com/2046176/see-why-germanys-ahr-wine-region-needs-our-help/ #Ahr #flooding #GermanWine #germany #NaturalDisasters #Wine
‘One in four properties will be at risk of #flooding by 2050 unless urgent action is taken, up from about 6.3m properties today, the report found. More than a third of the railways and road networks are already at risk of flooding, which will rise to about half by 2050.
More than half of England’s top quality #agricultural land is already at risk of flooding, and #harvests like last year’s – the second worst for arable on record – could become more common.’
#ClimateBreakdown is with us now.
“If that means they’re thinking of cutting the money for resilience to #flooding, we would ask them to think again. I can’t be clear enough about our message: we cannot wait to take action. This is not tomorrow’s problem. It’s today’s problem. And if we don’t do something about it, it will become tomorrow’s disaster.”
Labour not protecting people, economy and homes from climate crisis, watchdog says https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/30/labour-not-protecting-people-economy-and-homes-from-climate-crisis-watchdog-says #ClimateChangeCommittee #Extremeweather #Climatecrisis #Greenpolitics #Environment #Economics #Flooding #Politics #Drought #Labour #UKnews
October 2024 People, the State and the Apocalypse https://heatwavemag.info/blog/class-dis-030825-isssue1/
Extreme Flooding Events in Congo Expected Every Two Years: Study https://www.ecowatch.com/flooding-congo-climate-change.html
DRC’s Kinshasa could see deadly rain and floods every 2 years: Study https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/drcs-kinshasa-could-see-deadly-rain-and-floods-every-2-years-study/
@FotoVorschlag
'Klimawandel' / climate change
Ever more frequent extreme rainfall events ...
In Italy, Storm Hans left its mark,
Thunderstorms followed, so dark,
Rain poured from the skies,
Causing floods to arise,
Nature's wrath left its fiery spark.
#GuardianLimerick #Environment #Italy #Europe #Kenya #Africa #Flooding