Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

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      Republicans Would Regret Letting Elon Musk Ax Weather Forecasting

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      One way Donald Trump may try to differentiate his second term from his first is by slashing the federal work force and budget and consolidating and restructuring a host of government agencies.For people who care about weather and climate, one of the most concerning proposals on the table is to dismantle the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The authors of Project 2025, a blueprint for the administration crafted by conservative organizations, claim erroneously that NOAA is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry” and should be “broken down and downsized.” An arm of Mr. Trump’s team, the Department of Government Efficiency, to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, wants to eliminate $500 billion in spending by cutting programs whose funding has expired. That could include NOAA.With the rising costs of and vulnerability to extreme weather in a changing climate for the United States, dismantling or defunding NOAA would be a catastrophic error. Rather, there is a golden opportunity to modernize the agency by expanding its capacity for research and innovation. This would not only help Americans better prepare for and survive extreme weather but also keep NOAA from falling further behind similar agencies in Europe. While the incoming administration may want to take a sledgehammer to the federal government, there is broad, bipartisan support for NOAA in Congress. It is the job of the incoming Republican-controlled Congress to invest in its future.NOAA was established via executive order in 1970 by President Richard Nixon as an agency within the Department of Commerce. Currently its mission is to understand and predict changes in the climate, weather, ocean and coasts. It conducts basic research; provides authoritative services like weather forecasts, climate monitoring and marine resource management; and supports industries like energy, agriculture, fishing, tourism and transportation.The best-known part of NOAA, touching all of our daily lives, is the National Weather Service. This is where daily forecasts and timely warning of severe storms, hurricanes and blizzards come from. Using satellites, balloon launches, ships, aircraft and weather stations, NOAA and its offices around the country provide vital services like clockwork, free of charge — services that cannot be adequately replaced by the private sector in part because they wouldn’t necessarily be profitable.For most of its history, NOAA has largely avoided politicization especially because weather forecasting has been seen as nonpartisan. Members of Congress from both parties are highly engaged in its work. Unfortunately, legislation introduced by Representative Frank Lucas, Republican of Oklahoma — a state with a lot of tornadoes — that would have helped NOAA to update its weather research and forecasting programs passed the House but languished in the Senate and is unlikely to move forward in this session of Congress. However, in 2025 there is another opportunity to improve the agency and its services to taxpayers and businesses.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Body of Tennessee Factory Worker Killed in Hurricane Helene Is Found

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      She is believed to be the last employee who was missing after the plastics plant flooded. Authorities are still investigating the circumstances around the deaths. The remains of a sixth factory worker in eastern Tennessee who was swept away in the flooding brought on by Hurricane Helene have been found, ending a search for what is believed to be the last missing employee more than a month after the storm tore through the Southeast.Officials on Friday disclosed the identity of the body as Rosa Andrade, 29, one of a half-dozen victims of the flood who worked at Impact Plastics, a factory in the close-knit town of Erwin, about 120 miles east of Knoxville.“These people were just reporting to work that morning,” Andrew Harris, a captain with Unicoi County Search and Rescue, said in an interview on Saturday. “We’re trying to provide closure for the families, and obviously grieving with them.”The deluge at the factory on Sept. 27 was part of a trail of devastation caused by Helene, the Category 4 hurricane that hit the coast of Florida on Sept. 26 and decimated neighboring states with landslides and flooding in the days that followed. Helene killed more than 200 people across the Southeast.In North Carolina alone, there were more than 100 storm-related deaths, with damages and recovery efforts projected to cost the state an estimated $53 billion.Although Ms. Andrade is thought to be the last missing person from the factory, Mr. Harris said that search and recovery efforts continue for victims from North Carolina, some of whom are believed to have been swept into Erwin and nearby counties. State officials from Tennessee and North Carolina have suggested that at least a dozen people overall remain unaccounted for in the two states.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Map: Tracking Tropical Storm Kristy

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      Kristy was a tropical storm in the North Pacific Ocean Monday evening Mexico Central Time, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. Kristy formed from the remnants of Nadine, an Atlantic tropical storm that hit Belize over the weekend and moved across Central America into the Pacific. The tropical storm had sustained wind […] More

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      Map: Tracking Tropical Storm Trami

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      Trami was a tropical storm in the Philippine Sea Tuesday morning Philippine Time, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in its latest advisory. The tropical storm had sustained wind speeds of 40 miles per hour.  All times on the map are Philippine Time. By The New York Times What does the storm look like from […] More

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      Hurricanes Spur Pet Adoptions Nationwide. Should You Get a ‘Storm Dog’?

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      Amid major disasters, shelter animals are often sent to other states. And people are more likely to foster and adopt. Here’s what to know.Just days after Hurricane Milton hit Florida last week, about a dozen shelter dogs from a small town in Hendry County had already been flown to Texas. Several dozen other animals, from Pinellas County, had been taken by truck to shelters in Massachusetts and New York.They were part of the country’s latest diaspora of storm animals, dogs and cats scattered across the country by back-to-back hurricanes — Milton and Helene — which wreaked havoc across a vast swath of the United States this fall.Who transports these shelter animals and how does it work? Here’s what you need to know.Shelter animals often end up in faraway states after a disaster. Why?There are Harvey cats in California and Maria dogs in New York.If you have ever heard someone say their dog was rescued from a storm thousands of miles away, you might have wondered how they ended up so far from home.It comes down to a coordinated effort between shelters and national groups like the Humane Society, the ASPCA and the Best Friends Animal Society, as well as smaller public and private agencies.Year-round, these groups work to send animals from shelters facing overcrowding and low adoption rates to ones in other parts of the country where there is more space, and greater demand. When disaster strikes, the pace picks up.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Biden Visits Florida After Hurricane Milton and Calls for Bipartisan Relief Effort

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      The president surveyed damage in Florida and announced $612 million for projects to help the electric grid in areas affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.During his visit to Florida, President Biden announced $612 million for six Energy Department projects in areas hit by Hurricanes Milton and Helene to improve the region’s electric grid.Eric Lee/The New York TimesStanding in front of one of the many houses wrecked by Hurricane Milton in Florida, President Biden said on Sunday that the storm was devastating for those who lost homes, businesses or relatives, even as he expressed relief that the storm was not as destructive as anticipated.“Thankfully, the storm’s impact was not as cataclysmic as they predicted,” Mr. Biden said in St. Pete Beach. “For some individuals it was cataclysmic. Not only for those individuals who lost their homes, but more importantly those folks who lost their lives, lost family members, lost all their personal belongings. Entire neighborhoods were flooded and millions, millions without power.”Earlier he surveyed the damage from the air: the shredded roof of the Tropicana Field baseball stadium, mounds of debris lining roads and messages spray-painted on furniture piled outside of homes. One message read “Mayor, Gov, Mr Pres, Small Businesses Need Help Too.” Another simply said, “Help us.”“Homeowners have taken a real beating in these back-to back storms,” Mr. Biden said, referring to Milton and Hurricane Helene. “And they’re heartbroken and exhausted, and their expenses are piling up.”Mr. Biden’s visit to the hurricane-ravaged communities in Florida — his second such trip in two weeks — came as he has been managing various crises, including multiple natural disasters, in the final stretch of his presidency. He used the visit to announce $612 million for six Energy Department projects in areas hit by Milton and Helene to improve the region’s electric grid, including nearly $100 million for Florida. On Friday, he declared a major disaster for Florida communities affected by Milton.Mr. Biden also used the moment to call for bipartisan collaboration to help the areas affected pick up the pieces. In a sign of such unity, Mr. Biden was greeted by Representative Anna Paulina Luna and Senator Rick Scott, Florida Republicans who are frequent critics of the Biden administration, after the president finished his helicopter tour.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Biden Declares Disaster From Milton Ahead of Florida Visit

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      The president will visit communities ravaged by Hurricane Milton on Sunday. The disaster declaration will enable funds for the state to be deployed.President Biden approved a major disaster declaration for Florida for communities ravaged by Hurricane Milton, freeing up federal funding to assist in the state’s recovery and rebuilding.A statement from the White House on Saturday said that Mr. Biden had approved the deployment of the additional resources to Florida. It comes before he is set to travel there on Sunday to visit communities damaged by the hurricane and speak to emergency medical workers and residents trying to pick up the pieces. It will be his second such visit to the state this month.The White House typically approves disaster declarations for states after major natural disasters. The president makes the declaration after a state’s governor — in this case, Gov. Ron DeSantis — makes a request for the federal assistance.Mr. Biden finalized the declaration on Friday, freeing up federal funding for 34 counties, as well as the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. The move also provides grants for temporary housing and home repairs, loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help residents and businesses, according to the White House.“I want everyone in the impacted areas to know we’re going to do everything we can to help you pick back up the pieces and get back to where you were,” Mr. Biden said during a hurricane briefing with top cabinet officials at the White House on Friday.Total economic losses from Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene, which struck several states in the Southeast last month, could soar to over $200 billion, according to early estimates. Mr. Biden has said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has enough resources to respond to the immediate needs of communities in the wake of both storms. But he has warned that Congress will need to pass more funding for longer-term recovery.“We’re going to be going to Congress,” Mr. Biden said. “We’re going to need a lot of help. We’re going to need a lot more money as we identify specifically how much is needed.”FEMA has approved $441 million in assistance for survivors of Hurricane Helene and over $349 million in public assistance funding to help rebuild communities, according to a statement from the agency.The visit to Florida on Sunday also comes amid rising frustration in the White House with the flood of misinformation about the federal response to recent natural disasters, led by former President Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, and his allies.“The misinformation out there is not only disgusting but dangerous,” Mr. Biden said on Friday. More

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      A Retirement Community Prepared for a Hurricane. Tornadoes Came Instead.

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      Hurricane Milton’s death toll was highest far from the coast where it made landfall, in a retirement community where few were braced for destructive tornadoes.Victor Linero was watching coverage of Hurricane Milton’s churn toward Florida when, suddenly, he saw a live video of a tornado near his grandfather’s home — hours before the hurricane was supposed to hit on the opposite side of the state.In a panic, Mr. Linero warned his grandfather over the phone that he needed to take cover.“I was screaming, ‘Papi, get shelter now!’” recalled Mr. Linero, 26, who was raised by his grandfather. “And then I start hearing, ‘Oh my God. Ahh!’”He heard his grandfather, Alejandro Alonso, 66, let out a final scream. Then the other end of the line went silent.By the time it was over, what looked to be two tornadoes had plowed through Spanish Lakes Country Club Village, the retirement community north of Fort Pierce where Mr. Alonso lived. They had decimated mobile homes, tossed trucks aside and toppled trees, all while Hurricane Milton was nearly 200 miles away, in the Gulf of Mexico.In the end, Mr. Alonso, his 70-year-old girlfriend and four other people were dead. Roughly 125 houses, all of them mobile homes, were destroyed. It was one of Hurricane Milton’s most perplexing ironies: that an area on the opposite coast from where the brunt of the hurricane hit saw more deaths than any other single spot during the storm.“We were not in an evacuation area,” Anita Perrotta, who lives in the community with her husband, said as she described the two of them hiding in their home at Spanish Lakes while the tornado threw debris against it.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More