Latest news with #EmergencyManagementDepartment
Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Sport
- Qatar Tribune
Qatari delegation visits Emergency Management Department in Miami
MIAMI: As part of security cooperation and expertise exchange during the 2025 Club World Cup, and in preparation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a delegation from the tournament's security force visited the Emergency Management Department in Miami, Florida, USA. The delegation was headed by Brigadier General Nawaf Majid Al Ali, Assistant Commander of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya) for Security Operations, and attended by Brigadier General Jassim Al Bu Hashim Al Sayed, Director General of Communications and Information Systems at the Ministry of Interior and Secretary to the Minister of Interior for Coordination and Follow-up. The delegation was received by Pete Gomez, Director of Emergency Management, and Raed Jadallah, Chief of the Miami Fire Department. They were briefed on the department's work and reviewed the efforts of the tournament security officers assigned to the Emergency Operations Center.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Tampa Bay local governments prepare for ‘active' hurricane season
The 2025 hurricane season, forecast by experts to be 'above-normal,' began with the start of the month. And, after President Donald Trump's cuts to Federal Emergency Management Agency's staffing and financial aid, hurricane recovery may be more of a localized effort this year. Last year's back-to-back hurricanes showed Tampa Bay governments have room to improve their response to natural disasters, but these projects cost millions of dollars and take time to complete. Here are some lessons Tampa Bay's elected officials learned last year and the steps they're taking to improve the region's hurricane resiliency. Last year, areas of Hillsborough County that are not in flood zones, such as the Forest Hills neighborhood that drapes northwest Tampa and the unincorporated county line, were saturated with high water during Milton when backup generators failed to turn on stormwater pumps. In November, Hillsborough commissioners voted to hire an independent engineering firm, Black & Veatch, for $500,000 to investigate the county's stormwater infrastructure, identify deficiencies, explore policy changes and make recommendations. The first phase of the study was slated to end by the start of the hurricane season, and during the next phase, the firm will recommend projects to minimize flooding. As a part of the study, the county held community meetings and conducted an online survey this spring to hear feedback from residents about what went wrong last year. In the meantime, the public works department is trimming trees, clearing pipes and ditches and completing hundreds of drainage inspections across the sprawling county. It may be time to consider adding flood insurance to your home, regardless of where you live, said Timothy Dudley Jr., director of the Emergency Management Department. 'Water always finds a way,' he said. The city of Tampa is a part of Hillsborough County's stormwater study, and failed backup generators for stormwater pumps have been a particular point of contention for residents living outside of flood zones. Pump stations that move wastewater to the city's sewer system failed last year, which city officials said contributed to flooding in neighborhoods that didn't expect any. Some of the city's pumps haven't haven't been properly maintained, according to an audit from this year. And residents have recently complained the city isn't cleaning drainage ditches. Mayor Jane Castor announced in April that the city was spending $94 million toward pump upgrades at 28 stations and raising their electrical connections. The city is also installing more backup generators to pump stations — totaling 74 in Tampa. But there are more than 200 pumping stations in the city, and the city's wastewater department is continuing to evaluate whether generators can be added at additional sites. Another problem: gas shortages. Companies assisting with the response couldn't find enough gas, despite the majority of Central Florida's fuel coming through the Port of Tampa. Castor said that this year, every city employee has an assignment for emergency situations, and she cautioned residents they, too, have personal responsibility to stay safe. Local officials can plan for a lot of scenarios, Castor said, but as last year showed, until they experience storm situations first hand, they won't know all of the answers. Helene stayed 100 miles offshore but pushed almost 7 feet of storm surge ashore, causing unprecedented flooding in Pinellas. Many residents ignored evacuation orders. Only 1,700 residents went to shelters, said Adam Pedzich, Pinellas' response and recovery manager. Many who stayed behind had to be rescued by first responders. The county is targeting messages about that risk to those who live in condos, boats and mobile homes and focusing outreach on senior living centers. When Milton quickly followed Helene, 13,000 residents filled up shelters. In a shelter, residents can expect a small personal space and three basic meals a day. Operators aim to serve hot food but a meal could be a sandwich and a bottle of water. Pedzich recommends bringing any preferred drinks or snacks. Bedding won't be provided, so residents are encouraged to bring a cot or air mattress and, in case their home is destroyed, important documents. For those evacuating with pets, residents should bring a kennel, pet food and shot records, though the county will work with folks who don't have those items. 'We shouldn't be waiting until you're in the cone of the storm,' Pedzich said. 'Think about it now.' St. Petersburg had to shut down sewage plants last year — a first for the city — to protect expensive equipment from long-term damage and safely evacuate employees. But that precaution left thousands of residents unable to flush toilets or shower. Mayor Ken Welch said the city is accelerating $545 million of investments over the next five years in its sewage plants. And at the Northeast Water Reclamation Facility, the city raised a platform that will house generators for when the power goes out. It's now at 11 feet, two feet above federal standards, but it will soon have a 15-foot wall around it. The generators could be there by the height of hurricane season, but since much of the equipment is manufactured overseas, the city is at the mercy of the supply chain. The city hasn't raised the facility where plant employees work, though that's also in the plans. Public Works Administrator Claude Tankersley said the city is working this year on a way to shut the sewage plant down remotely. 'We're doing everything, I think, humanly possible, everything fiscally possible, to give us a higher level of capacity and resilience,' Welch said. 'But at some point, if a storm crosses that threshold, folks need to understand they need to evacuate.' The city of Clearwater is pursuing grants to elevate Bayshore Boulevard and engineering a design to raise a low-lying sewer pump station to avoid flood risk. The city has also increased creek and ditch clearing and is adding temporary pumps in low-lying areas on North Beach while permanent pumps are designed and installed. Mayor Bruce Rector said the city's tourism industry was able to bounce back quicker than other areas on the coast because of the rebuilding it had already done. Also helpful, he said, was moving quickly on storm debris pickup and creating pop-up permitting sites to expedite repairs for those whose homes were damaged. Rector said when city staff went door-to-door to help residents, some just wanted to grieve and talk. 'They served a role in engaging our community, going out there where the people are at,' Rector said, 'and hopefully build a relationship that will continue on for years to come, where [residents] now not only trust our local government and our staff, but they feel more engaged in our community.'
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
At least 1 dead, several injured after tornado tears through Kentucky county
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ky. – At least one person is dead and multiple people are hurt after a tornado ripped through a rural part of Washington County, Kentucky, on Friday morning. The Washington County Sheriff's Office confirmed the death to FOX Weather. Deputies said the twister touched down in the area of Long Run Road, several miles east of the city of Springfield. The director of Washington County's Emergency Management Department said the tornado hit several homes and ripped off roofs. Gov. Andy Beshear posted on social media that at least six people were injured. Beshear canceled his scheduled activities for the afternoon and urged people to stay weather aware. Download The Fox Weather App The National Weather Service Office in Louisville warned of a radar-indicated tornado just before 7 a.m. local time. FOX Weather Meteorologists Craig Herrera and Michael Estime tracked this tornado live on FOX Weather First Friday morning. "Pretty significant [debris] ball there," noted Herrera, referring to an area of Washington County where radar picked up signatures of debris being lifted into the air. The Sheriff's Office said the scene is active at the moment and is asking the public to allow first responders space to operate. San Antonio Submerged As Flash Floods Halt Texas City's Morning Commute Several hours later, a different storm caused damage and injuries in Loudon County, Tennessee. The Tennessee Highway Patrol posted images on social media of a home and several buildings with roofs ripped off. The department said four people were taken to the hospital after tornado or wind-related damage near Sweetwater and Philadelphia, Tennessee. According to the FOX Forecast Center, this is the final day of a week-long severe storm pattern that has dominated the South and Southeast. Check back for updates on this developing article source: At least 1 dead, several injured after tornado tears through Kentucky county
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Funding for L.A.'s emergency management unit, vital to Palisades recovery, remains static
Myriad calamities could hit the city of Los Angeles in coming years: Wildfires. Floods. Mudslides. Drought. And of course, the Big One. Yet this month, L.A. leaders once again balked at dramatically increasing the budget of the city's Emergency Management Department, even as the office coordinates recovery from the Palisades fire and is tasked with helping prepare for a variety of disasters and high-profile events, such as the 2028 Summer Olympics. Facing a nearly $1-billion budget shortfall, the L.A. City Council voted 12 to 3 last week to pass a budget that rejected the funding increases requested by EMD leaders to hire more staffers and fix broken security equipment around its facility. The only budgetary increase for EMD will come through bureaucratic restructuring. The department will absorb the five-person Climate Emergency Mobilization Office, which Mayor Karen Bass had slated for elimination in her initial proposal to trim the budget deficit. The funding allotment for EMD — with an operating budget of about $4.5 million — puts the department short of similar big cities in California and beyond. Read more: As L.A. rebuilds from the Palisades fire, residents ask: What's the plan? As a 2022 audit by then-City Controller Ron Galperin noted, San Diego ($2.46), Long Beach ($2.26) and San Francisco ($7.59) all spent more per capita on emergency management than L.A., which then spent $1.56 per resident. Whereas L.A. has a staff of roughly 30, New York, with more than double the population of L.A., has 200 people in its emergency management team, and Philadelphia, with a population less than half of L.A.'s, has 53. The current leaders of EMD, General Manager Carol Parks and Assistant General Manager Jim Featherstone, had specifically requested funding this spring to build an in-house recovery team to better equip the city for the Palisades recovery as well as future disasters. "We are one of the most populous and at-risk jurisdictions in the nation, if not in the world," Featherstone told the L.A. City Council's budget committee April 30. "I won't say negligent, but it's really not in the city's best interest to [not] have a recovery capability for a disaster similar to the one we just experienced.' Zach Seidl, a spokesperson for Bass, pushed back against the idea that EMD's funding level would hamper the Palisades fire recovery or preparation for the Olympic Games and 2026 World Cup. "During a difficult budget year, Mayor Bass focused on emergency management to keep Angelenos safe — that absolutely includes ensuring EMD has continued staffing and resources," Seidl said in a statement. "We will continue to push forward with one of the fastest recovery efforts in state history." Councilmember Traci Park — who represents the Palisades — was among the trio on the City Council who opposed the budget that passed last week, citing insufficient funding for public safety as one of her main objections. Read more: With PCH reopening this weekend, state and city tussle over Palisades security plans "It's inevitable that we are going to have another disaster, and we still won't be prepared. We'll be in the same position we were before," said Pete Brown, a spokesperson for Park, who decried cuts to EMD and a lack of resources for the Police and Fire departments. "We got a horrible taste of what it's like when we are not prepared," Brown said, "and despite all of that, we haven't learned a lesson from it, and we are doing the same thing." Rick Caruso, the developer whom Bass defeated in the 2022 mayoral race, called both the budget proposal put forward by Bass and the spending plan approved by the City Council "a blatant display of mismanagement and bad judgment," expressing incredulity over the rationale for EMD's funding level. "We are in an earthquake zone. We are in a fire zone. Come on," Caruso said in an interview. Seidl, Bass' spokesperson, disputed that L.A. had not learned from the Palisades fire and emphasized that the spending on emergency management included "continued and new investments" in EMD as well as the city's police and fire agencies. Emergency management experts, audits commissioned by the city and EMD's current leadership have warned that the department lacked the staff and funding to accomplish its mandate in one of the nation's most disaster-prone regions. 'That department could be the world leader in emergency management, and it could be the standard for the rest of the country, but with a third of the staff and a tenth of the budget that they need, that's not possible,' said Nick Lowe, an independent emergency management consultant and the president and chief executive of CPARS Consulting. The general manager of EMD and an agency spokesperson did not respond to written questions last week about the approved budget. In recent public statements, Parks disclosed that her budget requests this year received opposition and appeared to have been whittled down. She told the Ad Hoc Committee for L.A. Recovery in March that she had sought 24 more staffers at EMD, but that officials under the city administrative officer balked at her request. Read more: The L.A. wildfires left lead and other toxic material in the soil of burn zones. Here are their health risks Featherstone, who is now coordinating the Palisades fire recovery, said Parks' requests received "a qualitative negative response," and suggested that there was a lack of understanding or appreciation of the import of EMD's role. "There was a qualitative opinion not in favor of Ms. Parks having these positions and people who aren't emergency managers opined about the value or the worth of these positions," Featherstone said. Parks said she scaled her request down "given the city's current fiscal situation," adding, "I need a minimum of 10" more positions. In a memo, Parks said these 10 positions would cost about $1.1 million per year. When Bass unveiled her budget proposal, those 10 additional positions were not included; EMD remained at roughly 30 positions, similar to previous years, which costs about $7.5 million when pensions, healthcare and other expenses are included. Bass' budget proposal touted that she was able to preserve all of EMD's positions while other departments faced steep staff and funding cuts. Both Parks and Featherstone had argued for the creation of a designated, in-house recovery team, which EMD has lacked. When the Palisades fire broke out in January, EMD had no person assigned full-time to recovery and instead had to move its limited staff onto a recovery unit. Bass also retained Hagerty Consulting, a private firm, to boost EMD and provide instant expertise on a yearlong contract for up to $10 million, much of which Bass' spokesperson said is reimbursable by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Still, Featherstone has told the City Council that, since L.A. had no in-house recovery expertise, the need to train and create an in-house team has occupied much of the initial Palisades fire recovery effort. Phasing in an in-house recovery and reconstruction division with 10 staffers would cost an additional $1.5 million next year, according to a memo prepared by the city administrative officer. Hiring an additional 21 staffers to prepare for the Olympics and other major events would cost nearly $3 million. Parks also requested $209,000 to repair the video system at the emergency operations center, saying the lack of surveillance cameras posed a threat to city employees. "Multiple incidents have occurred where the safety and security of the facility have been compromised without resolution due to the failing camera system," Parks wrote in a budget memo submitted this spring. The request for funding for replacement cameras was also denied. L.A. officials have long been warned that EMD lacks resources. The 2022 audit by Galperin, the former city controller, found that L.A. provided less emergency management funding than peer cities, and that the COVID-19 pandemic "strained EMD resources and staffing, causing several existing preparedness programs to lag behind, likely impacting the City's readiness for future emergencies." An after-action report on EMD's handling of COVID-19, authored by Lowe, the emergency management consultant, found that the agency was 'undervalued and misunderstood, underfunded, and demoralized.' Parks took over as general manager after the time period covered by Lowe's report. Read more: Trump's FCC delays multilingual emergency alerts for natural disasters, sparking concern in L.A. The lack of training and funding became apparent at a budget hearing in April 2024. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky asked Parks directly at the meeting: 'With your current budget, are you able to staff your [emergency] response centers 24/7 during emergencies?' 'The answer is no,' Parks said. "If there are multiple days that the emergency operations center needs to be activated, we do not have enough staff.' During the Palisades fire, EMD said it had to bring in additional emergency management officials from other cities to sustain the emergency operations center around the clock. Lowe said L.A. leaders had failed to recognize EMD's role within the broader public safety infrastructure of the city. "I'm not sure at a political level that the city understands and appreciates emergency management and the purpose of the department, and that trickles down to the budget and the size of the department," Lowe said. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Funding for L.A.'s emergency management unit, vital to Palisades recovery, remains static
Myriad calamities could hit the city of Los Angeles in coming years: Wildfires. Floods. Mudslides. Drought. And of course, the Big One. Yet this month, L.A. leaders once again balked at dramatically increasing the budget of the city's Emergency Management Department, even as the office coordinates recovery from the Palisades fire and is tasked with helping prepare for a variety of disasters and high-profile events, such as the 2028 Summer Olympics. Facing a nearly $1-billion budget shortfall, the L.A. City Council voted 12 to 3 last week to pass a budget that rejected the funding increases requested by EMD leaders to hire more staffers and fix broken security equipment around its facility. The only budgetary increase for EMD will come through bureaucratic restructuring. The department will absorb the five-person Climate Emergency Mobilization Office, which Mayor Karen Bass had slated for elimination in her initial proposal to trim the budget deficit. The funding allotment for EMD — with an operating budget of about $4.5 million — puts the department short of similar big cities in California and beyond. As a 2022 audit by then-City Controller Ron Galperin noted, San Diego ($2.46), Long Beach ($2.26) and San Francisco ($7.59) all spent more per capita on emergency management than L.A., which then spent $1.56 per resident. Whereas L.A. has a staff of roughly 30, New York, with more than double the population of L.A., has 200 people in its emergency management team, and Philadelphia, with a population less than half of L.A.'s, has 53. The current leaders of EMD, General Manager Carol Parks and Assistant General Manager Jim Featherstone, had specifically requested funding this spring to build an in-house recovery team to better equip the city for the Palisades recovery as well as future disasters. 'We are one of the most populous and at-risk jurisdictions in the nation, if not in the world,' Featherstone told the L.A. City Council's budget committee April 30. 'I won't say negligent, but it's really not in the city's best interest to [not] have a recovery capability for a disaster similar to the one we just experienced.' Zach Seidl, a spokesperson for Bass, pushed back against the idea that EMD's funding level would hamper the Palisades fire recovery or preparation for the Olympic Games and 2026 World Cup. 'During a difficult budget year, Mayor Bass focused on emergency management to keep Angelenos safe — that absolutely includes ensuring EMD has continued staffing and resources,' Seidl said in a statement. 'We will continue to push forward with one of the fastest recovery efforts in state history.' Councilmember Traci Park — who represents the Palisades — was among the trio on the City Council who opposed the budget that passed last week, citing insufficient funding for public safety as one of her main objections. 'It's inevitable that we are going to have another disaster, and we still won't be prepared. We'll be in the same position we were before,' said Pete Brown, a spokesperson for Park, who decried cuts to EMD and a lack of resources for the Police and Fire departments. 'We got a horrible taste of what it's like when we are not prepared,' Brown said, 'and despite all of that, we haven't learned a lesson from it, and we are doing the same thing.' Rick Caruso, the developer whom Bass defeated in the 2022 mayoral race, called both the budget proposal put forward by Bass and the spending plan approved by the City Council 'a blatant display of mismanagement and bad judgment,' expressing incredulity over the rationale for EMD's funding level. 'We are in an earthquake zone. We are in a fire zone. Come on,' Caruso said in an interview. Seidl, Bass' spokesperson, disputed that L.A. had not learned from the Palisades fire and emphasized that the spending on emergency management included 'continued and new investments' in EMD as well as the city's police and fire agencies. Emergency management experts, audits commissioned by the city and EMD's current leadership have warned that the department lacked the staff and funding to accomplish its mandate in one of the nation's most disaster-prone regions. 'That department could be the world leader in emergency management, and it could be the standard for the rest of the country, but with a third of the staff and a tenth of the budget that they need, that's not possible,' said Nick Lowe, an independent emergency management consultant and the president and chief executive of CPARS Consulting. The general manager of EMD and an agency spokesperson did not respond to written questions last week about the approved budget. In recent public statements, Parks disclosed that her budget requests this year received opposition and appeared to have been whittled down. She told the Ad Hoc Committee for L.A. Recovery in March that she had sought 24 more staffers at EMD, but that officials under the city administrative officer balked at her request. Featherstone, who is now coordinating the Palisades fire recovery, said Parks' requests received 'a qualitative negative response,' and suggested that there was a lack of understanding or appreciation of the import of EMD's role. 'There was a qualitative opinion not in favor of Ms. Parks having these positions and people who aren't emergency managers opined about the value or the worth of these positions,' Featherstone said. Parks said she scaled her request down 'given the city's current fiscal situation,' adding, 'I need a minimum of 10' more positions. In a memo, Parks said these 10 positions would cost about $1.1 million per year. When Bass unveiled her budget proposal, those 10 additional positions were not included; EMD remained at roughly 30 positions, similar to previous years, which costs about $7.5 million when pensions, healthcare and other expenses are included. Bass' budget proposal touted that she was able to preserve all of EMD's positions while other departments faced steep staff and funding cuts. Both Parks and Featherstone had argued for the creation of a designated, in-house recovery team, which EMD has lacked. When the Palisades fire broke out in January, EMD had no person assigned full-time to recovery and instead had to move its limited staff onto a recovery unit. Bass also retained Hagerty Consulting, a private firm, to boost EMD and provide instant expertise on a yearlong contract for up to $10 million, much of which Bass' spokesperson said is reimbursable by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Still, Featherstone has told the City Council that, since L.A. had no in-house recovery expertise, the need to train and create an in-house team has occupied much of the initial Palisades fire recovery effort. Phasing in an in-house recovery and reconstruction division with 10 staffers would cost an additional $1.5 million next year, according to a memo prepared by the city administrative officer. Hiring an additional 21 staffers to prepare for the Olympics and other major events would cost nearly $3 million. Parks also requested $209,000 to repair the video system at the emergency operations center, saying the lack of surveillance cameras posed a threat to city employees. 'Multiple incidents have occurred where the safety and security of the facility have been compromised without resolution due to the failing camera system,' Parks wrote in a budget memo submitted this spring. The request for funding for replacement cameras was also denied. L.A. officials have long been warned that EMD lacks resources. The 2022 audit by Galperin, the former city controller, found that L.A. provided less emergency management funding than peer cities, and that the COVID-19 pandemic 'strained EMD resources and staffing, causing several existing preparedness programs to lag behind, likely impacting the City's readiness for future emergencies.' An after-action report on EMD's handling of COVID-19, authored by Lowe, the emergency management consultant, found that the agency was 'undervalued and misunderstood, underfunded, and demoralized.' Parks took over as general manager after the time period covered by Lowe's report. The lack of training and funding became apparent at a budget hearing in April 2024. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky asked Parks directly at the meeting: 'With your current budget, are you able to staff your [emergency] response centers 24/7 during emergencies?' 'The answer is no,' Parks said. 'If there are multiple days that the emergency operations center needs to be activated, we do not have enough staff.' During the Palisades fire, EMD said it had to bring in additional emergency management officials from other cities to sustain the emergency operations center around the clock. Lowe said L.A. leaders had failed to recognize EMD's role within the broader public safety infrastructure of the city. 'I'm not sure at a political level that the city understands and appreciates emergency management and the purpose of the department, and that trickles down to the budget and the size of the department,' Lowe said.
