Hurricanes | The Verge

Warning systems for floods, hurricanes, and famine are suffering from Donald Trump’s data purge

2025-04-30T17:10:52-04:00

Emergency signal

Within weeks of President Trump stepping into office, key health and environmental resources that doctors and farmers rely on started disappearing from federal websites. Trump was also quick to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), cutting off funding - as well as the flow of data that people around the world use to prevent famine and issue warnings ahead of natural disasters.

"As we all watched the websites being pulled down, as we all watched data disappearing, we were all concerned - because that's truth. There's truth in data," says a former contractor who was granted anonymity to speak freely without fear of re …

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Violent threats against FEMA swirl on social media

2024-10-10T13:14:22-04:00

Members of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force search a flood-damaged area with a search canine in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene along the Swannanoa River on October 4th in Asheville, North Carolina. | Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images

FEMA employees scrambling to respond to the devastation caused by hurricanes Milton and Helene are facing a new, unexpected challenge: violent threats on social media.

TikTok posts either calling for violence or applauding unverified claims about physical attacks against FEMA personnel have garnered millions of views, according to a report yesterday from nonprofit Media Matters for America. X has also been fertile ground for threats of violence against FEMA, says another analysis published yesterday by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).

"This content is reaching millions of people and, in some instances, poses a credible risk to p …

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FEMA adds misinformation to its list of disasters to clean up

2024-10-08T15:12:25-04:00

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is fighting misinformation on top of a major storm cleanup in Florida as Hurricane Milton rapidly intensifies just after Hurricane Helene rocked the state.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters on a call Tuesday that misinformation around the storms is "absolutely the worst I have ever seen," according to Politico. FEMA posted a rumor response page about the hurricane, and though it's not the first time it's taken that kind of approach, Criswell said, "I anticipated some of this, but not to the extent that we're seeing."

FEMA's rumor response page includes fact-checks to claims mad …

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Watch 2020’s hurricane season unfold in a mesmerizing four-minute timelapse

2021-02-26T12:03:57-05:00

This week, NASA released a grim four-minute timelapse of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, a mesmerizing display of last year's record-breaking string of tropical commotion.

2020's season "smashed records with an unprecedented 30 named storms, marking the fifth year in a row with above-average hurricane activity," NASA said in a blog accompanying the video.

The agency's Scientific Visualization Studio used a complex algorithm to process and merge hordes of data from an array of weather satellites in orbit, combining it with estimates and observations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Climate Prediction Cen …

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Microsoft Flight Simulator players are flying into Hurricane Laura

2020-08-27T07:10:51-04:00

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Microsoft Flight Simulator players have turned into virtual stormchasers this week, hunting down Hurricane Laura as it approached the US Gulf Coast. While Texas and Louisiana brace for what is being described as an "unsurvivable storm surge," the real-time weather inside Microsoft Flight Simulator is providing a surreal spectacle for players.

Virtual strormchasers have gathered in the skies above the Gulf of Mexico to fly directly into Hurricane Laura. The results demonstrate the incredible realism in Microsoft Flight Simulator, just as Hurricane Laura threatens catastrophic damage in the real world. Players have been flying directly throug …

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Why Dorian stalled out over the Bahamas

2019-09-03T17:51:14-04:00

Hurricane Dorian's projected course has shifted dramatically over the past few days, spreading a menacing uncertainty across the Caribbean, Florida, and the southeastern coast of the US. As the storm continues to lash the Bahamas with deadly force, changing weather patterns have pushed the storm around, leading to mounting frustrations as US residents struggle to prepare for the storm, and meteorologists try to pin down where it will go next.

After a stint as a powerful storm that smashed records across the Caribbean, Dorian's winds have weakened to a Category 2 storm. But the hurricane has also grown in size. Over the next several days the …

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See Hurricane Dorian’s monstrous size in these photos from above

2019-09-03T12:23:58-04:00

As Hurricane Dorian continues to pound the Bahamas and inch its way toward the East Coast of the United States, eyes in the sky continue to capture images of the deadly storm's fury. After days of obliterating intensity records, Dorian weakened to a Category 2 storm on September 3rd, but it remains a dangerous force of nature. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says that the storm is now "finally moving northwestward and growing in size" and still forecasts dangerous winds and a life-threatening storm surge in the Bahamas.

Experts tracking Dorian have used every tool in their playbook to forecast the storm's path - i …

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New York’s plan to avoid the L train shutdown is innovative, high-tech, and untested in the US

2019-01-03T14:04:49-05:00

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo surprised subway commuters on Thursday when he announced that the planned 15-month shutdown of L train tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn that was scheduled to begin April 27th will instead become a high-tech and untested rescue plan.

The news may come as a relief to some L train riders who were growing increasingly stressed about the impending shutdown. But the new repair plan, in which track work would take place on nights and weekends, may prove to be equally problematic considering it has never been attempted in a tunnel restoration project.

This is a "major, major breakthrough," Cuomo said during a press …

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It will take more than a hurricane to shake Florida’s red tide

2018-10-25T19:00:54-04:00

Even a hurricane isn't powerful enough to dislodge a toxic algal bloom from Florida's shores. When Hurricane Michael pummeled the Florida panhandle last week, scientists wondered whether the storm would finally shake loose the red tide clinging to the state's coastline. The harmful algal bloom has been killing off fish and releasing plumes of neurotoxins for months - and even after enduring surging seas and winds of up to 155 miles per hour, it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

Before Michael hit, experts speculated the bloom could play out in a few different ways: the storm could break up the bloom, make it worse, or a combination of bot …

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Hurricane Willa’s dangerous intensification, explained

2018-10-22T21:44:37-04:00

Hurricane Willa nears Mexico on October 22nd 2018 | Image by Joshua Stevens/NASA Earth Observatory

After a massive intensification over the weekend, Hurricane Willa is whirling toward Mexico's west coast as a Category 4 storm. Everything about the storm will be life-threatening, the National Hurricane Center warns: hurricane-force winds, flash flooding, landslides, and storm surge are predicted along the storm's path. "Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," the National Hurricane Center says.

Just days ago, Hurricane Willa was a tropical storm, CNN reports. By Monday morning, Willa had become a Category 5 hurricane with winds reaching speeds of 165 miles per hour. By Monday afternoon, the winds had sla …

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