Breaking News: Natural Disasters

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Check out how UNC Charlotte is studying wildfire spread in this video featuring researchers from the Lee College of Engineering.

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Financial losses could increase by more than 70 percent by 2100 if oceans warm at the worst-case-scenario rate predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to a new study. The study used hurricane modeling and information in FEMA's HAZUS database to reach its conclusions.

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With over 26 inches of rain and high winds in a 24-hour-span, engineering and facility management staff faced the biggest challenge of their career--keeping Hurricane Harvey at bay to protect the operations of Harris Health System's Ben Taub Hospital. They did in remarkable fashion.

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St. Mary’s College of Maryland students led by the Student Government Association collected nearly $14,000 in monetary donations and 9,816 non-perishable items currently being distributed by the Pasadena Independent School District in southeastern Texas.

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.Hurricanes may have taken a big bite out of the U.S. pecan crop this year, but that’s not likely to stop the annual fall flurry of pies, candies, cheeses and other delicacies made with the popular native nut, officials said.

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The 2017 hurricane season has highlighted the critical need to communicate a storm's impact path and intensity accurately, but new research from the University of Utah shows significant misunderstandings of the two most commonly used storm forecast visualization methods. The study, published in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, looked at summary displays and ensemble displays for communicating information about a hurricane.

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Two weeks after Hurricane Maria wrecked devastation on Puerto Rico, destroying the power grid and leaving millions without access to necessities, distributing aid remains an issue. Extreme events pose serious logistical challenges to emergency and aid organizations active in preparation, response, and recovery operations, as the disturbances they bring about turn normal conditions into chaos. On Thursday, October 5, José Holguín-Veras, the William H. Hart Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Center for Infrastructure, Transportation, and the Environment at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will host a press conference and webinar titled “Lessons from Large Disasters and Catastrophes for Post-Disaster Response: Implications for Puerto Rico” beginning at 11:30 a.m. The press event will take place on the Rensselaer campus in the Jonsson Engineering Center (JEC), room 3117.

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Researchers from Berkeley Lab, Lawrence Livermore Lab and UC Davis are building the first-ever end-to-end simulation code to precisely capture the geology and physics of regional earthquakes, and how the shaking impacts buildings

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During the four-year study, University of Notre Dame researchers will work to develop improved storm surge models that incorporate fine-scale data to increase the accuracy of forecasts, while also maintaining reduced computer time and reasonable computational costs.

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GCOOS collects data from more than 2,000 ocean sensors that play a critical role in hurricane forecasting and ensures that the information is timely, reliable, accurate and -- above all -- available to those working to understand ocean systems and subsequently provide better forecast data to save lives and protect coastal economies during hurricanes.

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In response to the devastation in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria and the damage to Mexico City from the recent earthquake, Mayo Clinic has extended its support through a $250,000 donation to Americares.

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The American Physiological Society (APS) has allocated $100,000 for a Hurricane Relief Fund to assist young APS member-researchers in their rebuilding efforts following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Applications are now being accepted for grants of up to $2,000, which are intended to help graduate students and postdoctoral fellows impacted by the storms to replace belongings, pay for relocation costs and get back on their feet.

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There are about 100,000 railroad bridges in the U.S. and approximately 30,000 of them are constructed from timber. More than half of these timber bridges were built before 1920. North American railroad bridge owners are now mandated to closely assess the structural capacity of their bridges. Consequently, in order to comply, railroad companies need new and effective ways to help them improve and develop bridge safety.

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Hurricane evacuees living in Texas now can have free access to an ER physician via a video and text messaging app from CirrusMD through UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Texas Docs Care program.

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Disaster relief workers searching for earthquake survivors in Mexico City are using technology developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate.

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.With so many hurricanes ravaging the Caribbean and the southern U.S., it has become clear that addressing threats to infrastructure is critical to keeping our communities safe, functional, and healthy. Storm surge has emerged as one of the most destructive forces on infrastructure, especially interconnected structures in cities. To address this issue, Columbia Engineering researchers recently won a NSF grant to study storm surge threats to New York City infrastructure.

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While you read this, an unmanned Wave Glider surface vehicle is riding swells alone in the Gulf of Mexico, collecting critically needed post-Hurricane Harvey water quality data.

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Hurricane Harvey left its mark on much of the Texas coast, leaving at least $100 billion in damages, but it very likely worsened a problem that has been plaguing the coast for years – beach erosion.

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Researchers and Extension faculty suggest resetting uprooted palms and trees only after they have been examined for safety and deemed worthy of replanting. For hardwood trees, if a majority of major anchor roots have been fractured, it is unlikely that such trees will successfully reestablish themselves, and they will likely fail in future storms. Uprooted trees and palms in good condition should be replanted as soon as possible and watered frequently.

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A new analysis done to support the investigation into the 2015 sinking of the El Faro cargo ship has calculated the likelihood of a massive rogue wave during Hurricane Joaquin in October of that year – and demonstrated a new technique for evaluating the probability of rogue waves over space and time.

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Hurricanes Harvey and Irma undoubtedly affected the number initial claims for unemployment insurance, reminding us of the important role that the Unemployment Insurance program will play in the recovery from those storms.

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Hurricane Irma left a lot of standing water in the yards and homes of Florida residents. So, a University of Florida researcher suggests steps for making sure your home doesn’t become a haven for mosquitoes. Some mosquito species can lay up to 200 eggs at a time, so it’s critical to empty cups, birdbaths, pots or anything else on your property that has standing water.

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ADCIRC, combined with meteorological forecasts like rain, atmospheric pressure and wind forecasts, predicts flooding threats, allowing decision makers to make better decisions about response efforts, before severe weather occurs.

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