Floods

About 2,000 more homeowners people in Lee County may be required to purchase flood insurance unless appeal is successful

A suspended federal project that promised to be a game-changer in protecting the public from worsening flooding is back in business today, with a team of scientists hard at work to make up for lost time.

Former federal officials and outside experts have warned for months that President Donald Trump's staffing cuts to the National Weather Service could endanger lives. After torrential rains and flash flooding struck Friday in the Texas Hill Country, the weather service came under fire from local officials who criticized what they described as inadequate forecasts. Democrats wasted little time linking staff reductions to the disaster, which is being blamed for the deaths of at least 80 people. Former federal officials and experts have said Trump's indiscriminate job reductions at NWS and other weather-related agencies will result in brain drain that threatens the government's ability to issue timely and accurate forecasts. Trump said job cuts did not hamper weather forecasts.

Kerr County, Texas, Sheriff Larry Leitha says that 11 campers and a camp counselor are still missing after powerful floods inundated central Texas. Dozens of people have been killed since raging floodwaters slammed a portion of central Texas starting Friday. The death toll from flash floods rose to nearly 70 on Sunday after searchers found more more bodies in the hardest-hit Kerr County. The victims include children who were camping along the Guadalupe River banks. Officials have said they will not stop searching until every person is found.

A cadre of engineers and planners who design America’s roads, bridges, hospitals and other critical infrastructure fear that an emerging tool that would replace the nation’s out-of-date rainfall and flood data is on the Trump Administration chopping block.The new tool, Atlas 15, uses modernized rainfall data to allow engineers to design and build infrastructure to withstand flooding for decades to come as extreme rainfall predictably worsens.Without it, the engineers and planners say, they would be forced to rely on old data that understate flood risks and put infrastructure in harm’s way.

Punta Gorda on the south side of Charlotte Harbor is preparing for hurricane season. Some residents still are dealing with homes that were flooded by Hurricanes Helene and Milton last fall. A few owners are elevating homes, while others are tearing them down to build back newer and higher.

It's actually called Vibrio vulnificus, and a range of peer-reviewed academic papers are reporting the infectious and deadly bacteria is prevalent on Southwest Florida beaches due to climate change, warming oceans, and its endemic population. `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

A federal judge has rejected a request by Florida and other states for a preliminary injunction to block changes to the National Flood Insurance Program that have led to higher premiums for many property owners — though he ruled that a broader legal battle can continue.U.S. District Judge Darrel James Papillion, who is based in New Orleans, issued a 56-page ruling last week that pointed to potential problems if he issued an injunction against a risk-rating system that began taking effect in 2021 and was fully in place in April 2023.

A storm system should arrive to the state on Sunday. Multiple rounds of heavy rain could lead to local flash flooding. Isolated strong wind gusts and brief tornadoes are possible too.