Los Angeles county is the riskiest county in the US, according to a new Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) index which considers 18 kinds of natural disasters, from earthquakes, hurricanes and tornadoes to floods, volcanoes and tsunamis. The National Risk Index spotlights places long known as danger spots, like Los Angeles, but some places highlighted…
Recovery process continues in Brazos Valley following storms, tornadoes
While aid totaling more than $2 million has been approved so far for Brazos Valley residents affected by the tornadoes and flooding in late May, area emergency management coordinators say the recovery process will be slow as people continue to report losses and work with FEMA to obtain financial assistance. Brazos, Grimes and Washington counties…
Years later, FEMA officials return to scene of Spencer tornado
SPENCER — The town of Spencer looks nothing like the place two FEMA veterans visited 18 years ago. On Monday, former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director James Lee Witt and former FEMA Regional Director and U.S. Senate candidate Rick Weiland returned to Spencer for the first time since 2002, four years after a tornado decimated…
FEMA denies aid to VA counties affected by February tornadoes
(WWBT) – The Virginia Department of Emergency Management received word this week that FEMA would not be providing any aid to the commonwealth. FEMA previously denied Virginia’s request for aid from the February tornadoes, but the state appealed. However, they are only allowed one appeal, so this decision is now final. When FEMA first denied…
FEMA releases assistance totals related to 2011 tornadoes
More than five years after tornadoes devastated the southeast and resulted in four federal disaster declarations in five days, hard-hit communities are building back stronger. To date, assistance to residents and communities in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee from the Federal Emergency Management Agency totals more than $504 million. “The success of community recovery comes…
FEMA Denies Appeal for Major Disaster Help After Tornadoes
BATON ROUGE, La. – FEMA has denied Louisiana’s appeal for a major disaster declaration after several severe storms and tornadoes swept through the state in February. Governor John Bel Edwards appealed the initial denial of aid for the storms in Assumption, St. James and St. John the Baptist parishes. “We wanted to make every effort…