Disaster

The Hill reports: President Biden will travel in the coming days to Puerto Rico and Florida to tour damage from Hurricane Fiona and Hurricane Ian, respectively, the White House announced late Saturday. The president and first lady will travel to Puerto Rico on Monday, followed by a trip Wednesday to Florida. The White House did not disclose where the president …

Florida Politics reports: Because of rising water, a section of Interstate 75 between Venice and North Port has been closed in both directions. The closures affect I-75 and Florida State Road 93 in both directions, according to a news release from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). FDOT also says to expect major delays and for the detours to continue …

The Associated Press reports: Rescuers searched for survivors among the ruins of Florida’s flooded homes from Hurricane Ian as the remnants of one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. continued to push north. The powerful storm terrorized millions of people for most of the week, battering western Cuba before raking across Florida from the warm …

The New York Times reports: As Hurricane Ian charged toward the western coast of Florida this week, the warnings from forecasters were growing more urgent. Life-threatening storm surge threatened to deluge the region from Tampa all the way to Fort Myers. But while officials along much of that coastline responded with orders to evacuate on Monday, emergency managers in Lee …

The New York Times reports: As a freshman congressman in 2013, Ron DeSantis was unambiguous: A federal bailout for the New York region after Hurricane Sandy was an irresponsible boondoggle, a symbol of the “put it on the credit card mentality” he had come to Washington to oppose. “I sympathize with the victims,” he said. But his answer was no. …

The Associated Press reports: More than 2 million Floridians remained without power Friday morning as they emerged from the flooding and wreckage left by Hurricane Ian and began to plot a recovery from the storm’s devastation. In Lee County, where Fort Myers and Cape Coral took direct hits from the storm, more than 80% of customers were without power Friday …

ABC News reports: Fort Myers Beach, Florida, has been decimated by Hurricane Ian. Video shared by Bobby Pratt from the town on Estero Island in Lee County shows debris littered everywhere and buildings reduced to piles of rubble. Boats are slammed on shore, and a huge chunk of a pier is missing. Governor Ron DeSantis said Thursday that the electric …

The Daily Beast reports: At first light on Thursday morning, emergency crews were beginning to reckon with the monumental devastation left in Ian’s wake, as homes were ripped from their foundations and public buildings damaged. “I definitely know the fatalities are in the hundreds,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told Good Morning America Thursday. “There are thousands of people that …

The Associated Press reports: Hurricane Ian left a path of destruction in southwest Florida, trapping people in flooded homes, cutting off the only bridge to a barrier island, damaging the roof of a hospital intensive care unit and knocking out power to 2.5 million people as it dumped rain across the peninsula on Thursday. One of the strongest hurricanes to …

CNN reports: Search and rescue teams are working to respond to hours-old calls for help that came as Ian – now a tropical storm still marching across Florida – slammed the state’s west coast as a Category 4 hurricane, its surge trapping residents and its monstrous winds and flooding rains leaving millions without power and many without drinkable water. Collapsed …

The New York Daily News reports: Attorneys with the 17 law firms who brokered the $1.1 billion settlement between Florida’s Champlain Towers and victims of its deadly 2021 collapse were awarded $70 million in fees Monday. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzma expressed satisfaction that the families of the 98 people killed in last summer’s tragedy were “in essence being made …

CBS News reports: Search and rescue teams backed by the National Guard are still searching for people missing in record floods that wiped out entire communities in some of the poorest places in America. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Saturday at least 25 people have died, a toll the governor said he expected to grow, adding that it could take …

CBS News reports: Some of the oldest and largest trees on earth are under threat after a wildfire in Yosemite National Park more than doubled in size in a day. Blistering temperatures, low humidity, and heavy terrain have made it difficult for firefighters to gain control of the Washburn Fire, which has grown to over 2,000 acres. More than 500 …

Kansas City’s ABC News affiliate reports: Missouri Highway Patrol has confirmed that an Amtrak passenger train has derailed in rural Missouri early Monday afternoon. Several train cars can be seen on their side in photos posted to social media shortly after the incident. The crash appears to have taken place near Mendon, Missouri. Amtrak has confirmed that several cars derailed …

NBC News reports: A judge gave final approval Thursday to a settlement topping $1 billion for victims of the collapse of a Florida beachfront condominium building that killed 98 people, one of the deadliest building failures in U.S. history. The decision by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman came a day before the one-year anniversary of the Champlain Towers South disaster …

Reuters reports: An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 killed 920 people in Afghanistan early on Wednesday, disaster management officials said, with more than 600 injured and the toll expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain villages. Photographs on Afghan media showed houses reduced to rubble, with bodies swathed in blankets lying on the ground. Helicopters were deployed in …

The Missoula Current reports: While the Governor’s Office has declined to reveal the location of Gov. Greg Gianforte during Montana’s unprecedented flooding disaster, the national news outlet Newsy reported that the state’s top elected official and his wife were vacationing in Tuscany. On Thursday, Newsy was the first to report Gianforte’s location, achieving what Montana’s numerous news outlets couldn’t despite …

Reuters reports:  Two blazes that grew into New Mexico’s largest ever wildfire were both started by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the agency said on Friday, prompting the state’s governor to demand the federal government take full responsibility for the disaster. Forest Service investigators determined the Calf Canyon Fire was caused by a “burn pile” of branches that the agency …

ABC News reports: The China Eastern Airlines plane crash that killed 132 people is believed to have been caused by an intentional act, according to U.S. officials who spoke to ABC News. The Boeing 737-800 passenger jet was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou on March 21 when it plunged into a mountainous area. All 123 passengers and nine crew members …

The Miami Herald reports: In a surprisingly swift resolution of the Champlain Towers South class-action lawsuit, relatives of victims and survivors of the Surfside condo collapse have reached a settlement that will pay them nearly $1 billion, a state court judge was told Wednesday. The comprehensive settlement announced in Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman’s courtroom effectively closes the litigation …