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The federal flood insurance program is on a course to continue falling deeper in debt, even when there is no catastrophic storm like Katrina or Harvey. The National Flood Insurance Program is currently on a path that will lead to a shortfall of $1.4 billion because its method for setting premiums has underestimated how much its claims will cost by about $1.1 billion and also because legislated surcharges are about $300 million shy of what's needed to cover premium discounts given to certain properties, according to the Congressional Budget Office report, National Flood Insurance Program Financial Soundness and Affordability .
For more than a week, the world watched as grim images from southeast Texas were broadcast on television and social media -- homes along the coast torn apart by hurricane winds, inland communities flooded by a record-setting tropical storm. The full extent of the devastation remains unclear, and FEMA chief Brock Long says the recovery effort will take years.
A week after Harvey made landfall in Texas, families are having funerals for some of the storm's victims and going back to their homes to see if those can be saved. A look at what's happening: The death toll from the storm has reached 42. Families who lost loved ones are remembering the victims during funerals and memorial services.
In this Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017 photo, Gordon Prendergast poses with the kayak he bought to see how his house in Houston's western neighborhoods fared after Harvey caused flooding in land that not long ago had been open prairie. Tens of thousands of homes were inundated when floodwater roared around the edge of Houston's Addicks Dam for the first time in its 70-year history.
Miguel Moncado, of Oxford Contractors, guts a flood-damaged home in the Meyerland neighborhood in Houston after Hurricane Harvey on Friday Sept, 1, 2017. HOUSTON >> Nearly a week after Harvey crashed into the Texas coastline, the storm chased more people out of their homes Friday after dumping heavy rain on Louisiana, and Houston planned a water release that could keep as many as 20,000 homes flooded for up to 15 days.
Rescuers began a block-by-block search of tens of thousands of Houston homes Thursday, pounding on doors and shouting as they looked for anyone - alive or dead - who might have been left behind in Harvey's fetid floodwaters, which have now damaged more than 87,000 homes and destroyed nearly 7,000 statewide. Elsewhere, the loss of power at a flood-crippled chemical plant set off explosions and a fire, and the city of Beaumont, near the Texas-Louisiana line, lost its public water supply.
Hurricane Harvey pummeled the Houston area with an unprecedented four feet of rain, making it the most extreme rain event in U.S. history. Cars and houses are underwater, and thousands of people have needed or await rescue.
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A $100 steak knife, a $600 filing cabinet, $300,000 in sports equipment and an $88,000 tactical combat vehicle may have nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina, but those items were paid for as part of a multibillion-dollar spending bill that Congress quickly passed after the 2005 storm, which has prompted lawmakers to become skeptical of disaster-relief bills. Twelve years later, with Hurricane Harvey still dumping water on flood-ravaged Houston, some are already worried that the next relief bill will pose the same problem: millions of dollars spent on wasteful or unrelated projects.
Hurricane Harvey's still-rising flood waters have altered the landscape well beyond Texas: They have put aside, at least for now, vast differences within the Republican Party. Instead of the discord and infighting that's marked the first seven months of the Trump administration, Republican leaders on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are vowing to swiftly approve recovery funds for the areas devastated by the storm.
Houston officials will open two or three more mega-shelters to accommodate people who continue to arrive at the overflowing George R. Brown Convention Center seeking refuge from Harvey's record-breaking flooding, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Tuesday. "We are not turning anyone away.
Officials released more water from Houston-area reservoirs overwhelmed by Harvey early Monday in a move aimed at protecting the city's downtown from devastating floods but that could still endanger thousands of homes, even as the nation's fourth-largest city anticipated more rain. Harvey, which made landfall late Friday as a Category 4 hurricane and has lingered just off the coast dropping heavy rain as a tropical storm, sent devastating floods pouring into Houston on Sunday.
Providing some idea of the number of victims that Harvey is leaving it its wake, FEMA Administrator Brock Long said he expects the storm will drive about 30,000 people into shelters, and 450,000 people will seek some sort of disaster assistance. However, he warned, that it is a "dynamic" situation and "every number we put out right now is going to change in 30 minutes."
The Trump administration Sunday ramped up its response to deadly Hurricane Harvey amid reports of Texas families trapped in their homes and a Weather Service pronouncement of "unprecedented" impacts - including up to 50 inches of rain predicted, and elevated highways under water. In Washington, President Donald Trump was headed into a late-morning Cabinet tele-conference on the disaster, tweeting "Even experts have said they've never seen one like this!" Going to a Cabinet Meeting at 11:00 A.M. on #Harvey .
The Southern California desert community is cleaning up on Friday, Aug. 4, 2017 after thunderstor... . In this Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017 photo provided by Jim Phipps shows children playing in a flooded street with a fallen tree after a storm passed through in Tempe, Ariz.
What is the big deal about floodplain? Floodplain is land adjacent to a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge. A floodplain consists of two parts.
Urban Nights Offers Edgy Fashion, Help for Homeless Teens Urban Nights is an edgy, outdoor fashion show that benefits teens facing homelessness. Group Of German Students Detained At DIA By Customs Officials A group of eight students from Germany was detained by immigration officials after arriving at Denver International Airport Friday night, according to several reports.
Senate appropriators on Thursday sent a $38.4 billion energy and water spending bill to the chamber's floor that is $4 billion more than President Trump's budget request. The Appropriations Committee approved the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for fiscal 2018 with a near unanimous 30-1 vote, with some Democrats choosing to delay their push to boost renewable energy spending until the bill comes up for a final vote on the floor.