• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

FEMA is strapped for cash and aid just ahead of peak hurricane season

Steve Miller

Steve Miller

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency is strapped for cash and aid just ahead of hurricane season, and one reason why is that the agency has been activated to respond to small disasters that states almost certainly could have aided without calling in federal assistance. An analysis found that overestimating damage to states for small disasters triggered 325 unnecessary FEMA deployments since 1998 out of 647 disasters in the period. 129 deployments would have been avoided with accurate cost estimates. It’s about more than just money: in 2017, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria caused $276 billion in damage and killed 3,167 people, but the day Harvey made landfall, 4,948 emergency workers (about half of FEMA’s workforce) were deployed elsewhere or unavailable. This is partly due to states spending less on emergency management, down to $466 million in 2017 from $2.1 billion in 2003. This isn’t over: there were 6,051 disaster workers available when Harvey made landfall in late August 2017. Yesterday, there were just 3,624 emergency workers available.

Tom Frank, E&E News
 
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