Hurricane-torn residents in western North Carolina try to guide recovery despite feeling voiceless at times

Debris removal in western North Carolina is messy business.
(FEMA photo)

After Hurricane Helene pummeled western North Carolina in September 2024, it left a trail of wrecked buildings, broken plumbing, downed electrical lines, flooded homes, rancid water, and mud everywhere. For area residents still working to restore their lives and land, their post-disaster experience can be summed up in a word: Messy.

"Helene brought extreme flooding and landslides to southern Appalachia, killing 108 people and causing $60 billion in damage in western North Carolina alone," report Katie Meyers and Izzy Ross of Grist. "It also reshaped rivers and landscapes, littering them with everything from garbage and trees to cars and homes."

Residents working to restore their neighborhoods sometimes land in the crosshairs of "contractors and subcontractors, officials at every level of government, and an alphabet soup of agencies," Meyers and Ross write. Crews and public authorities can show up unannounced, leaving community members unsure of who is in charge of what.

Debris removal has posed multiple challenges for residents trying to protect the land and its wildlife. Meyers and Ross explain, "Because contractors are paid by the weight of waste removed or by the linear foot of ground covered, there can be a struggle to balance expediency and ecological care," Grist reports. The massive amount of trees and limbs that needed removal from the region's waterways "sparked arguments about what constitutes debris, what ought to be cleared, and what might be better left alone."

Transylvania County may have avoided a direct assault from Hurricane Helene, but the Army Corps "earmarked some $66 million for debris removal there," Meyers and Ross add. County officials have been frustrated by the lack of collaboration. Transylvania County Manager Jamie Laughter told Grist, "The county has not had a role in directing the contractors’ work, assessing regulatory compliance or how they go about their work because that falls to [the Army Corps]."

Scientists who live in the community have also felt ignored. "When Hans Lohmeyer, a biologist with Conserving Carolina, tried to help [the Corps], he was rebuffed," Grist reports. "He showed Grist photographs of riverbanks littered with crushed elktoe mussels, which are endangered, and stumps of what he said were healthy trees."

North Carolina’s losses from Hurricane Helene offer lessons on emergency planning for inland communities

Hurricane Helene pummeled counties across six
states. (Adobe Stock photo)

 

Despite weather reports giving starkly accurate descriptions of the extreme risks Hurricane Helene posed as it barreled through North Carolina toward Yancey County, many of the county's residents remained unaware of the imminent danger. Jennifer Berry Hawes and Mollie Simon of ProPublica report, "The highest per capita death toll occurred in Yancey County, a rural expanse in the rugged Black Mountains devastated by flash flooding and landslides."

Yancey County residents were in Helene's violent path but didn't know it. ProPublica reports, "No one in Yancey received evacuation orders — and many, including those living in high-risk areas and caring for young children and frail older people, didn’t flee because they didn’t see clearer signs of urgency from the county."

Helene's wrath left at least 230 people dead across six states. Its trail of destruction in Yancey County left the community in ruin, families with untold losses, and a list of hard-won lessons. If storms can "make trees grow deeper roots," ProPublica has five takeaways to help regions prepare before extreme weather strikes again.

Even if your community is inland, develop storm warning education and planning. If there are internal barriers to evacuations, discussions can happen before an emergency. "Yancey’s emergency manager, Jeff Howell, told us he doubted the county commissioners would support issuing orders or that local residents would heed them given the area’s culture of self-reliance and disdain for government mandates, especially regarding property rights," ProPublica reports. "But some Yancey residents said they would have left or at least prepared better."

Use direct and honest disaster messaging across all possible channels. "With Helene closing in, officials in rural Yancey were among those who used less-direct wording. In Facebook posts, they asked residents to 'please prepare to move to higher ground as soon as you are able,'" Hawes and Simon write. "In one post, they softened the message, adding, 'This information is not to frighten anyone.' Many [Yancey survivors] told us that in retrospect they were looking for clearer directives from their leaders."

When it comes to training local emergency managers, consider following the lead of other states. "North Carolina does not require training for local emergency managers," Hawes and Simon add. "Florida recently enacted a law mandating minimum training, experience and education for its counties’ emergency managers starting in 2026. Georgia requires its emergency managers to get the state’s emergency management certification within six months."

Build landslide awareness, even if mapping hasn't been completed. "North Carolina began examining landslide risks by county, but powerful interests stood in the way," Hawes and Simon explain. "More than 20 years ago, North Carolina legislators passed a law requiring that landslide hazards be mapped across 19 mountain counties." When real estate and land developers pushed against the mapping program, lawmakers cut its funding and staff.

Ask for a 360 review. North Carolina hasn't issued any foundational review of "lessons learned" from Helene. "As North Carolina figures out how to direct millions of dollars in rebuilding aid, there has so far been no state inquiry into the preparedness of local areas — or what could better equip them for the next unprecedented storm," ProPublica reports. For now, the state seems more focused on rebuilding.

Cadaver dogs and their handlers comb through piles of debris to find people lost during Hurricane Helene

Cadaver dog handlers are always looking for ways to keep their dogs
interested during a long search. (FEMA photo via NC Health News)

Hurricane Helene's torrential rains and flooding across western North Carolina didn't just decimate homes and businesses, it swept people away, leaving many communities still searching through rubble for lost loved ones. To help find the missing, cadaver dogs and their handlers are painstakingly working through debris and high waters.

"Highly trained dogs have played a crucial role in finding victims’ remains; one canine-assisted search team from Guilford County recovered 20 bodies in the immediate aftermath of the storm," reports Jaymie Baxley of NC Health News. "These specialist canines and their handlers are likely to find more casualties in the weeks to come, according to cadaver dog expert Cat Warren." Baxley spoke with Warren about the added challenges cadaver dogs and handlers face after natural disasters. Their edited Q&A is below.

Baxley: What are some of the unique challenges involved in training a dog to detect human remains — especially in disaster scenarios like hurricanes?
Cat Warren: Disaster work adds bunches of challenges on top of just finding the scent of human remains. It takes absolute experience for the dogs and handlers to work in these situations.. . . In a tragedy like this, you also have so much competing odor. . . . Many times, the dogs will work for hours and hours without finding anything.

Baxley: How do factors like flooding, mudslides or dense forests affect the ability of dogs to detect remains after events like hurricanes?
Cat Warren: But in these cases, the dog may not be able to get close enough or the scent is so fractured that the dog is somewhat uncertain. That’s when the handler is going to tell people who are flanking them, 'Look, the dog showed real interest here.' The dog may not give his final indication because that body or that scent is underneath a pile of debris, so it’s then up to the searchers to go in and search that pile of debris.

Baxley: How would you describe a typical search operation involving cadaver dogs in disaster-hit areas? Is there a timeline for the work?
Cat Warren: It’s grim, but the timeline for this is going to be months because there’s such a huge area to search.. . . Officials are still gathering accounts of where people went missing, and we have a homeless population in Asheville that is probably very much still unaccounted for. 

Baxley: What improvements or advancements have you seen in cadaver dog training that could enhance future search and recovery efforts?
Cat Warren: Generally, training over the past 20 years or so has improved at the highest levels because people have a greater understanding of how positive reinforcement and motivation can be used to train dogs in a really disciplined way. . . . One of the things that handlers are doing all the time is figuring out how to keep these dogs motivated over long search periods.

For handlers, some of the feelings may come afterward. These guys are doing really, really hard work. It is exhausting, and it takes a real physical and emotional toll. . . .

Newspapers, radio stations serve as a ‘lifeline’ for residents after major storm damage from Helene

The Henderson Lightning was chock-full of storm
information and free. (Henderson Lightning photo)

In the aftermath of terrible storm damage in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, many residents found themselves in dire need of reliable information about the damage and recovery efforts.

Local media organizations stepped up with round-the-clock radio broadcasts, updated information online and even free newspapers.

The Hendersonville Lightning, based about 25 miles south of Asheville, N.C., offered its newspaper for free to readers and packed its paper and website with storm-related coverage. As the community began its recovery efforts, The Lightning’s coverage included updates on power restoration, information about how to get rid of debris and details on which health centers were open and which ones were still closed.

In a thoughtful note to readers on Oct. 2, Editor Bill Moss explained why they were giving readers access to the newspaper for free and how else they were trying to navigate in the aftermath of the storm.

"Amid all the hardship and challenges in the post-Helene world, the last thing we want to ask people to do is dig for four quarters to get news of this historic disaster," Moss said. "We've unlocked racks at six locations in and around the city. These are the only racks that will be filled this week. For the sake of our distribution team, first responders and utility crews, we want to avoid adding traffic on hazardous roads."

After letting readers know details about where to find the free newspapers, Moss also wrote: “Subscribers are welcome to grab one, too, as we don't know when they'll get home delivery via U.S. mail of this week's issue” . . . . “Bear in mind, too, of course, that we're continuously posting updates on the website on the disaster, recovery, how to get help and more.”

Brian Stelter of CNN wrote about how the marathon broadcasts at radio stations in and around Asheville served residents with vital information and comforting reassurance.

“As communications across the region remained severed for many, the voices on the radio became a lifeline for locals in dire need of reliable information; sharing updates on road closures; opening the phone lines to anyone with working wireless or landline phones; and reassuring listeners that help is on the way from government organizations and volunteer groups,” Brian Stelter of CNN reported.

“WWNC, the oldest station broadcasting in western North Carolina, and six other stations owned by iHeart came together to simulcast their coverage of the weather emergency, host Mark Starling told CNN."

And “Blue Ridge Public Radio provided live coverage on the radio and online, including lists of 'who to contact' for help with missing persons and power outages.”

States, federal government, plan for climate-change disasters; interactive map shows recently affected areas

Federal disaster declarations, 2014-19 (Stateline map; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version)

"State lawmakers across the country are calling for huge investments to mitigate the effects of wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, droughts and other natural disasters made more devastating and frequent by climate change," Alex Brown reports for Stateline. "Following the hottest decade on record, which saw record-breaking wildfires in the West, extreme weather events like Superstorm Sandy, a years-long drought in California, and severe flooding in the Midwest, legislators in many states say it’s long past time to treat such events as the new normal — and invest accordingly."

The federal government is getting ready too: the Department of Housing and Urban Development now has a $16 billion program to help coastal states prepare for natural disasters. That's a departure from the department's usual model of helping by way of its Federal Emergency Management Agency after disasters have happened, Brown reports.

"Even states whose leaders don’t publicly acknowledge the existence of climate change, such as Texas and South Carolina, have applied for federal dollars citing 'changing coastal conditions' or 'unpredictability,'" Brown reports.

Planning for climate-change disasters requires government officials to adopt a different mindset. "Most of what government does is thinking three to five years ahead," Jim Murley, the chief resilience officer in Miami-Dade County, told Brown. With climate change, "We seriously have to think about 2040, 2060, 2100 — that doesn’t happen. We don’t do that for transportation planning, water planning — anything. You have to deal with a lot of uncertainty while at the same time believing the science is taking you on some path among these scenarios."

Environmental experts warn House lawmakers that climate change could overwhelm flood insurance program

Environmental experts warned House lawmakers this week that the increasing risk of flooding due to climate change could overwhelm the National Flood Insurance Program.

"The hearing, hosted by the Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy, focused on the macroeconomic effects from climate change and the monetary risks associated with it," James Jarvis reports for The Hill. "The NFIP covers more than 5 million flood insurance policies and collects approximately $4.75 billion in premiums, fees and surcharges each year."

Andy Karsner, who was assistant energy secretary for efficiency and renewables under George W. Bush, said flooding will continue to be a major risk, and "It is imperative for [insurance companies] to develop new tools of risk management because they are operating on very old model inputs and ancient legacy flood maps."

The repeated major hurricanes in 2017 and 2018 bled the program dry, leading to billions in losses. The disaster aid bill included provisions to help the NFIP pay off the claims, Jarvis reports.

Marshall Burke, an assistant professor of earth science at Stanford University, said the hurricanes will continue to be a problem: "We don’t have clear evidence that there will be more or less of them — but we know they will be more powerful and move more slowly. That will dramatically increase the likelihood of coastal flooding."

The uptick in hurricane has led some lawmakers to explore the idea of expanding the role of private insurers in the NFIP. That way they could share the risk and ensure the availability of flood insurance. "But it is unclear whether letting private insurance companies take on more risk will effectively help mitigate the problem," Jarvis reports.

Signups for farm disaster aid begin Wednesday

Starting Wednesday, farmers hit by natural disasters in 2018 or this year will be able to sign up for aid at their local U.S. Department of Agriculture offices, as long as they live in counties where a disaster was declared. The aid is being offered under the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus, and covers damage caused by hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, snowstorms, and wildfires (as well as typhoons and volcanoes), Chris Clayton reports for DTN/The Progressive Farmer. WHIP+ will pay a maximum of $125,000 per individual per year, but the limit could increase to $250,000 if at least 75 percent of a farmer's income is from farm production.

"The WHIP+ focuses only on crops and does not include livestock losses. The program will provide aid for production losses and cover from 75% to 95% of losses, depending on crop insurance coverage or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance policies," Clayton reports. "Farmers who did not insure crops will receive 70% of the expected value of the crop."

The program also covers prevented planting for some uninsured farmers. It will also compensate losses of crops or hay stored on farms under the On-Farm Storage Loss Program. Heavy flooding and snowstorms destroyed some of the crops farmers had stored on their land this spring; many farmers stored their crops (especially soybeans) after they couldn't sell last year because of the trade war. 

The WHIP+ aid is in addition to the $3 billion for livestock and crops allocated in the disaster-aid bill passed in June, but there are some caveats to the new aid because of the overlap. "Farmers who were affected by 2018 disasters, such as hurricanes Florence and Michael, as well as California wildfires, will be eligible for 100% of their payments," Clayton reports. "Yet, WHIP+ payments for 2019 disasters will be limited to an initial 50% of their value with the possibility of receiving the other 50% of their payments after Jan. 1, 2020, 'if sufficient funding remains,' USDA stated."

USDA Farm Service Agency Administrator Richard Fordyce said they limited that reimbursement to 50% in case more disasters happen later this year. "The 50% for 2019 just allows us to manage the funds' availability of the program. We don't know what's yet to come," Fordyce told Clayton.

Researcher says relocating towns away from disaster-prone areas may be better than rebuilding after storms

How do you rebuild after a weather-related disaster? Maybe you shouldn't: "A paper published Thursday in the journal Science makes a case that, sometimes, retreating from nature instead of fighting it can actually open up new opportunities for communities," Kendra Pierre-Louis reports for The New York Times.

Though the rhetoric tends to focus on building back better, "You're in a fight with the ocean. You're fighting to hold the ocean in place. Maybe that's not the battle we want to pick," said A.R. Siders, an assistant professor at the University of Delaware and lead author of the paper.

"Siders pointed to Soldiers Grove, Wis., a town of about 500 that, after one too many floods, moved itself out of the flood plain," Pierre-Louis reports. "The community took that challenge and turned it into opportunity, reorienting the business district such that it could take advantage of highway traffic and powering it entirely with solar energy — and they did this in the 1970s."

Staying in place after a disaster can not only make residents a target for later disasters, but it's costly for the government to provide aid and for insurance companies to pay out, as illustrated by Dauphin Island, Alabama, which Gilbert Gaul of YaleEnvironment360 called "the unluckiest island in America." The island has been hit by more than a dozen big storms in recent decades, but residents of the beach resort keep rebuilding.

Some communities do shrink after disasters. The population of New Orleans is only 85% of its pre-Katrina population, for example. But the retreats are haphazard, and most of the people who leave have money and options, meaning it's generally the poorest who stay. "The new paper lays out ways communities could practice managed retreats that would address their broader needs," Pierre-Louis reports. "Lack of access to reliable climate-hazard maps, for example, makes it difficult to make informed choices about risk. Such maps must be improved and updated regularly, the paper said."

For those who choose to—or must—stay, post-disaster recovery is often hampered by bureaucracy, Andrea Noble reports for Route Fifty. Though Hurricane Michael hit the Florida panhandle in October 2018, the Federal Emergency Management Agency didn't begin delivering temporary housing units to the area until late January, and people were still living in tents this spring.

Quick hits: Feud film, fentanyl book, academics' suggestion that every American get $50 to give a favorite news outlet

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

A new PBS documentary, "The Feud," explores the Hatfield-McCoy feud. It premieres at 9 p.m. ET on Sept. 10. Read more here.

A new book explores the history, manufacture, sale and use of fentanyl, Dave Davies reports for NPR.

Fears of hog-lagoon waste pollution were raised as Hurricane Dorian approaches North Carolina, Ari Natter reports for Bloomberg.

Some academics have come up with an ambitious plan to help journalism: give every American adult $50 to donate to a favorite news outlet, Rick Edmonds reports for Poynter.

USDA promises quick disaster aid for Southern farmers and forest owners hit in 2018; the latter may take some finagling

Now that the disaster-aid bill is law, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue promised that the Department of Agriculture will quickly get help to Southeastern farmers and forest owners whose products were damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018. "The Category 5 storm in October 2018 tore through Florida’s top lumber producing counties and dealt about $1.3 billion in damage to the state’s timber sector," Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico's "Morning Agriculture."

Since the USDA doesn't usually help with timber losses, "Aiding tree farmers could require some creativity from federal and state officials," McCrimmon reports. "Florida and Georgia lawmakers last week asked Perdue to design forest restoration block grants that cover debris removal and replanting costs and compensate forest owners for the value of the trees they lost in the storm. The USDA chief on Friday suggested the program could be similar to block grants for the citrus industry."

What's in the $19.1 billion disaster aid package: a lot

Congress passed and President Trump signed the long-delayed $19 billion disaster aid bill this week. "Communities in California, Florida and Texas -- which have been ravaged by wildfires, hurricanes and floods -- will likely be among the biggest beneficiaries . . . but the bill is likely to touch nearly every corner of the U.S. and territories," Liz Farmer reports for Governing, a magazine for state and local officials. The departments of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development will administer the aid. Here's a broad summary of the package:

• About $1.4 billion to help Puerto Rico, which is in bankruptcy, rebuild nearly two years after hurricanes Irma and Maria. Trump's reticence to allocate more funding for Puerto Rico was a major cause of delay for the bill.
• Almost $2.5 billion for community development block grants to help communities rebuild housing, businesses and roads in the hardest-hit areas.
• $1.65 billion to reimburse states and territories for repairing damage to federally managed roads and bridges.
• $3 billion to assist farmers who lost livestock and crops to a natural disaster or who weren't able to plant this year because of flooding. Farmers who had insurance will receive higher payments.  The package also covers losses of already harvested crops that were in storage; no other program covers such losses. Farmers had stored an unusually high amount of crops, especially soybeans, because of Trump's trade war.
• Almost $350 million to improve water quality, replace damaged monitoring equipment, and inspect and clean up hazardous-waste facilities.
• $600 million for economic-development grants to foster long-term recovery in areas hit hard by major disasters in 2018 and 2019.
• $100 million for mental-health treatment, crisis counseling, helplines and related services for people affected by recent natural disasters.
• $25 million for improved fire and weather forecasting equipment. 

How rural areas can become more hurricane-ready

Seven months after Hurricane Michael hit Florida's Gulf Coast, rural areas of the Panhandle still haven't recovered: many people are still living in tents and relying on food banks, and many businesses have left the area for good. Those rural areas suffered more severe damage because they were unprepared for the Category 5 storm, Eren Ozguven writes on The Conversation. Ozguven is a Florida State University engineering professor who has studied hurricane resilience for 13 years.

Though it's challenging to prepare for large, fast-moving storms like Michael, Ozguven and some of his FSU colleagues are working with Panhandle communities to help them improve their response plans ahead of the 2019 hurricane season. That includes planning for emergency communications if cell-phone towers get knocked out. "It also is important to assess which demographic and socioeconomic groups will be most affected by damage to power lines and roadways – for example, aging populations," Ozguven writes. "Studying power outages and roadway closures during hurricanes, together with a region’s physical features, reveals vulnerable locations that will be at high risk in future events."

It's especially important to create strong community training programs in rural areas and make sure neighbors can count on each other in emergencies. , Ozguven says planners must also make sure they have up-to-date information on rural populations to make sure no one is left behind, and involve rural communities in the planning.

Radio stations in hurricane-devastated Fla. Panhandle to play Trump speech snippets every hour until 2020 election

"Two days after President Trump rallied his base in Florida’s Panhandle, vowing hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for the hurricane-devastated region, three local radio stations said they would air Trump speeches daily until the 2020 election," Tiffini Theisen reports for the Orlando Sentinel. "The stations will broadcast two-minute snippets of Trump speeches every hour of every day -- perhaps sometimes twice an hour -- until the end of the presidential race, owner Samuel Rogatinsky said."

Rogatinsky, a Fort Lauderdale-based attorney who owns Gulf Coast Media, bought three Panhandle FM stations late last year from Powell Broadcasting Co. Powell sold the stations after Hurricane Michael damaged facilities so badly that the stations were off air for several months, Theisen reports. 

Rogatinsky told Theisen he ran the notion of airing Trump speeches regularly by several locals and none objected because "It's Republican territory." He said Panhandle residents have felt forgotten in the seven months since the storm, and said the speeches could be uplifting. "Really, we just want to have inspirational type things because the community is so down," he told Thiesen. "Nobody else is really promising or doing anything. They want to hear what he has to say."

He told MSN that he would give equal airtime to other candidates if any requested it, to comply with Federal Communications Commission guidelines.

Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., says Trump administration not living up to promise to help farmers recover from disasters

U.S. Rep. Austin Scott
(AP photo by Evan Vucci)

Gridlock over a $17 billion disaster-aid bill prompted criticism for President Trump's administration from Rep. Austin Scott, who represents south-central Georgia. "It was a rare rebuke of the administration from a Republican congressman, most of whom have been in lockstep with the president's policies," Catherine Boudreau reports for Politico.

During a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing on Thursday, Scott read aloud part of a speech in which Vice President Mike Pence told Georgia farmers last fall that the administration would help them recover from Hurricane Michael. But the administration is breaking its promise, Scott said, since seven months later, Congress and the White House still can't agree on a disaster aid bill for those hurt by recent disasters, Boudreau reports. The main hang-up is that President Trump does not want to give more aid to Puerto Rico, and has made unsubstantiated claims that the local government has wasted previous aid money.

Scott, "who helped secure about $3 billion for agriculture in House disaster legislation, leveled much of his criticism at President Donald Trump’s White House," Boudreau reports. He "said the White House Office of Management and Budget has yet to submit a formal disaster request to Congress to supplement already-authorized federal emergency aid, but has done so for other priorities. He noted that OMB last week asked for $4.5 billion to address what Trump has described as a humanitarian and security crisis at the border with Mexico," Boudreau reports.

In his remarks, Scott obliquely criticized Mick Mulvaney, the former OMB director and Trump's acting chief of staff, who has been a leading opponent of agricultural subsidies. "I appreciate the vice president’s comments. I appreciate the president’s favorable comments about the agricultural community," Scott said. "But when things are then handed off to people at the Office of Management and Budget, who consider the American farmer and the American farm family nothing but subsidy-sucking freeloaders, then there’s a disconnect in what is actually coming out of the administration, and what the administration is telling us that they’re going to do."

Scott said OMB's opposition to disaster aid for farmers has been a major stumbling block in negotiations, and said his constituents will start losing their farms and homes soon if Congress doesn't pass an aid package, Boudreau reports.

EPA chief questions science of climate change as agency warns localities to prepare for more natural disasters

The Environmental Protection Agency published a 150-page document last week urging state and local leaders to start planning for the fallout from worsening natural disasters, including floods, hurricanes and wildfires. 

The guide builds on a recent government report outlining the effects of climate change, but it contrasts with EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler's views on the subject; last month, the former fossil-fuels lobbyist told CBS that climate change wouldn't be much of a problem for 50 to 75 years, Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis report for The Washington Post.

"The divergence between Wheeler and his own agency offers the latest example of the often contradictory way that federal climate policy has evolved under President Trump," the Post reports. "As the White House has sought to minimize or ignore climate science, government experts have continued to sound the alarm. The White House has repeatedly sought ways to question the broad scientific consensus that human activities are driving climate change, and it is considering creating a federal advisory panel to re-examine those findings. But while the National Security Council is still pursuing the . . . proposal, it has encountered resistance from military and intelligence officials as well as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy."

That's because there's an increasing body of research that confirms not only the existence of climate change but its effects. "Since 2011, the American Meteorological Society has compiled an annual assessment of how human-caused climate change probably affected the strength and frequency of extreme events such as record heat waves, droughts and wildfires," Eilperin and Dennis report. "The group has said that of the more than 130 peer-reviewed studies published as part of the annual reviews, about 65 percent have identified the fingerprints of climate change in extreme weather events, while about 35 percent found no clear connection."

Congress leaves for break without approving disaster aid

Congress has left Washington for a two-week recess without approving disaster aid that would help the Midwest, Southeast and Puerto Rico. The main problem: President Trump opposes more aid for Puerto Rico, which was hit by two hurricanes in 2017, and has made unsubstantiated claims that its politicians have mismanaged federal funds.

"Senate Republicans have stuck with the president so far, refusing to add more funding to help Puerto Rico rebuild its water systems or help its impoverished government with more generous disaster aid terms. Democrats in turn filibustered a $14 billion aid package over the issue last week, and the measure has languished since," Andrew Taylor reports for Fox Business.

Some Republican senators met with Trump privately on Thursday to try to make headway, including Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala, Jordain Carney reports for The Hill. Shelby and other GOP lawmakers from the southeast are feeling pressure to get the bill passed since farmers there still need hurricane aid and it's planting season, Taylor reports.

That has led to some unusual criticism of Trump from lawmakers who usually support him. "Never before have we seen American communities that were wrecked with catastrophes neglected like this," said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., in a floor speech this week, Taylor reports. "To this day, OMB has not even submitted a request for disaster assistance, calls to White House staff have gone unheeded, and but for one tweet on April 1, it seems the president has moved on."

FactChecking President Trump on wind power and more

Here's another installment of an occasional series we run listing some of the most relevant items from FactCheck.org and other nonpartisan fact checkers. FactCheck found fault with several President Trump statements last week:

"During an April 2 speech to the National Republican Congressional Committee, President Donald Trump once again attacked wind power, falsely claiming that noise from turbines causes cancer and that turbines sink property values by 75 percent," Jessica McDonald reports. "The president has repeatedly erred when it comes to wind power. As we’ve explained before, when the president said living near turbines is noisy enough to make someone 'go crazy after a couple of years,' there’s no direct evidence that the sound is harmful to human health."

Last week, Trump said that "for the first time, really, in decades" Mexico "has been starting to apprehend a lot of people at their southern border coming in" from other Central American countries. That's untrue, though. "In fiscal year 2018, Mexico apprehended 110,000 migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, and over the previous four fiscal years the total was more than 500,000," Lori Robertson reports.

Trump also misstated Rep. Jerrold Nadler's 1998 position on releasing special counsel Kenneth Starr's report on President Clinton. Nadler, A Democrat from New York and the House Judiciary Committee chair, has said that special counsel Robert Mueller's unredacted report on Trump should be released to the committee. On April 2,  Trump tweeted: "In 1998, Rep.Jerry Nadler strongly opposed the release of the Starr Report on Bill Clinton. No information whatsoever would or could be legally released. But with the NO COLLUSION Mueller Report, which the Dems hate, he wants it all. NOTHING WILL EVER SATISFY THEM! @foxandfriends"

Trump based his tweet on a video clip aired on Fox & Friends that day. "The video clip gives the impression that Nadler was against making any of the Starr report public, which wasn’t the case," D'Angelo Gore reports. "The fuller video and transcript show that Nadler said the report and other documents would have to be reviewed by members of Congress to determine what could be released or not."

Finally, Trump claimed that Puerto Rico received $91 billion in hurricane aid, and that that amount was "more money than has ever been gotten for a hurricane before." Neither statement is true. Puerto Rico has received $11.2 billion in disaster relief payments since 2017, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"In all, the federal government has allocated nearly $41 billion, and has obligated about half of it via binding agreements, but as we said, so far just a portion of that — $11.2 billion — has been distributed in Puerto Rico," Robert Farley reports. "To get to the $91 billion figure, a senior administration official told us Trump is including the total allocation for Puerto Rico — $41 billion — plus an estimated $50 billion in future FEMA costs 'over the life of the disaster,' which can stretch decades."

Six months after Hurricane Michael, rural Florida panhandle still struggles to recover; some federal relief still delayed

Some rural Florida panhandle residents still live in temporary housing. (Washington Post photo by Charlotte Kesl)

Six months after Hurricane Michael killed 49 people and caused more than $5.5 billion in damage in the Florida panhandle, rural areas east of Panama City are still struggling to rebuild, Patricia Sullivan and Joel Achenbach report for The Washington Post.

"Government agencies have cleared the roads and utilities have restored power, water and communications, but thousands of people are still desperate for permanent housing, competing not only with one another for the scarce supply of rental units, but with construction workers who have come into the area," Sullivan and Achenbach report. "Many residents are living in damaged homes or trailers unfit for human habitation. Some live in tents. Homeowners are frustrated by stingy insurance companies and bewildering government paperwork, and they’re wary of shady contractors."

The area has received less in charitable donations than other areas hit with recent hurricanes, the Post reports: The American Red Cross said that donations earmarked for Michael were at $35 million, compared to $64.3 million for Hurricane Florence, which hit Virginia and the Carolinas a month before; $97 million for Hurricane Irma, which hit Naples, Florida in 2018; and $522.7 million for Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas in 2017. That's likely because Michael affected relatively few people and the public was paying more attention to victims of Florence and wildfires in Northern California.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency "said it has poured $1.1 billion into Florida in Michael-related response and recovery efforts, the bulk of that in the form of low-interest Small Business Administration loans," Sullivan and Achenbach report. "It has approved $141 million in individual assistance to 31,000 households affected by Michael, numbers similar to disaster relief provided to North Carolina after Florence."

But Congress has not passed a $13.5 billion bill to fund long-term recovery from natural disasters, at first because of the partial federal shutdown, then because of partisan fighting over hurricane recovery funding for Puerto Rico. Congress authorized $35 billion in long-term recovery aid more than a year ago, but the Housing and Urban Development Department program that disburses the aid is so dysfunctional that almost none of the funding has been given out.

Rural panhandle residents are frustrated with Congressional delays. Philip Griffitts, chairman of the Bay County Commission and a Republican, told the Post: "We have as many Democrats suffering as Republicans, and we need help. We’re all in the same boat."

Lack of staff, structure at HUD agency slows hurricane aid

Lack of structure and staff at a federal agency and a funding battle in Congress over relief for Puerto Rico are stalling aid to survivors of natural disasters. Many rural areas are having a harder time recovering than their urban counterparts.

"A slow start to the Housing and Urban Development Department’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program has led to virtually none of the funds being disbursed, despite Congress approving the spending more than a year ago," Eric Katz reports for Route Fifty. "HUD’s 'ad hoc' approach to overseeing and monitoring the funds has created lags in four states and territories—Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands—providing relief to individuals affected by the hurricanes, the Government Accountability Office found."

The CDBG program usually helps disaster survivors with housing, infrastructure and economic revitalization not covered through insurance or other programs. But HUD doesn't have permanent authority to issue emergency funds, so it must create a new regulatory framework for each disaster, Katz reports. 

After Congress approved assistance for areas hit by hurricanes in 2017, it took CDBG five months to create that framework, then another six months to make agreements with states and territories about the financing and implementation of those plans. "In the meantime, the auditors noted that HUD’s inspector general has already identified several issues with the states and territories' controls over the money," Katz reports. "GAO also found that HUD does not deploy a uniform assessment of those controls or other key data from the grantees, such as how they estimate their unmet needs. This has led to the current appropriation of $35 billion, most of which will go to Puerto Rico, being insufficient for addressing recovery efforts in the affected areas."

On Capitol Hill, the fight over funding relief for Puerto Rico is slowing passage of a $13.5 billion disaster aid bill that has broad bipartisan support going into the Senate this week. "The White House, however, isn’t pleased with the bill and is particularly opposed to efforts by Democrats to make hurricane relief to Puerto Rico more generous," Andrew Taylor reports for the Associated Press. "Senate Republicans are supporting food aid to the devastated island and are working with top Democrats like Patrick Leahy of Vermont to try to speed passage of the measure by adding additional help for Puerto Rico."

Some Farm Service Agency offices reopened for three days

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has temporarily reopened almost half of the nation's Farm Service Agency offices to perform limited services for three days: today, tomorrow, and Tuesday, Jan. 22. The offices will be closed on Jan. 21 for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

About 2,500 workers have been recalled to process payments on existing loans, provide tax documents, and a few other services deemed necessary. Offices won't be able to process new loans or trade aid applications, or dispense hurricane or wildlife relief. Click here for a list of services available, and click here for a list of reopened offices.

The move could provide some relief to farmers hurt by the shutdown, but farmers still face difficulties without access to the full scope of services offered by FSA offices. "With growing season just months away, the closure of FSA offices and other USDA programs is threatening some farmers’ ability to buy seeds, land and fertilizer in time to plant many of their crops this year," Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico. "Without access to the more than 2,100 FSA offices dotting the country, farmers and ranchers can’t discuss financing options for buying land or read monthly market reports that influence planting decisions, for example."

Between Dec. 21 and Jan. 3 the USDA dispensed $2.78 billion in aid to farmers hurt by the trade war with China. About $4.4 billion in aid is still available to farmers, but farmers have no way to access it until the shutdown ends, McCrimmon reports.