Two weeks ago, a FiveThirtyEight analysis found that Puerto Rico had received far less media coverage immediately after Hurricane Maria than other U.S. locations recently hit by powerful hurricanes had gotten. This week, we went back to the same data sources to see if things had changed. And they have. Hurricane Maria made landfall in […]
Hurricane Maria, currently headed for Puerto Rico, stunned forecasters by rapidly intensifying from a Category 1 storm to a Category 5 within a 15-hour period on Monday, battering the island of Dominica in the process. Indeed, the forecast error for Maria’s wind speed is one of the worst for a 24-hour hurricane forecast in the […]
On Sept. 8, someone in New York City dialed 311, the city’s non-emergency hotline, and asked for information about a Hurricane Sandy disaster relief program. This was not a fluke. It’s been nearly five years since the storm devastated the mid-Atlantic, causing 43 deaths in the city and $19 billion in damage. But still, nearly […]
The hurricanes in the Gulf and Florida over the last few weeks have left people displaced — and from more than just their homes. Places of worship, community centers, parks and schools are underwater, missing roofs or windows. And those losses can set the social infrastructure of a person’s life adrift. Years after the family […]
As Irma makes its way up Florida’s Gulf Coast, it’s on a path to disrupt some of the state’s most vulnerable residents. The Florida coasts and flood-prone areas are home to many people who are particularly vulnerable in storms, including people living in mobile homes, migrant laborers and older people, many of whom have limited […]