Rebecca Hersher

"To really understand if the risk has been reduced, an insurance company would theoretically need information about what my neighbors have done." ... but where to get that information?

Communities are reducing wildfire risk. Will their insurance bills go down? Insurance companies are dropping customers as the cost of disasters goes up. Some communities in California are working to reduce their risk, but so far, insurance companies often aren't factoring tha...

The most interesting detail in this excellent piece? The part about making a database. I swear! www.npr.org/2025/11/13/n... @lsommer.bsky.social @npr.org

Disaster and insurance costs are rising. The middle class is struggling to hang on Middle-class families are struggling to afford insurance in southwest Florida. Realtors say a wave of foreclosures could be coming.

"That gentrification is a real thing, the change in the cost is a real thing," says Rob Fowler, a builder in southwest Florida. “And it all adds up to the fact that only well-heeled players can play now." www.npr.org/2025/11/17/n...

Why home insurance is unaffordable, even in places without wildfires or hurricanes Some of the country's highest home insurance prices are in the central U.S., a region generally considered to be protected from climate-driven disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes.

"It's to a point of unsustainability," says Robert Dyer, CEO of the Cozad Community Health System. "If we got hit by another storm right now, it would drain all our cash." From @rhersher.bsky.social www.npr.org/2025/11/13/n...

Hurricane Katrina forced changes at FEMA. Trump is rolling them back The government's colossal failure to respond after Hurricane Katrina led to major reforms at the nation's top disaster agency. Now, the Trump administration has reversed some of those changes.

Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of #HurricaneKatrina making landfall.

This week, the Trump administration suspended #FEMA employees who warned that the agency is not ready to respond to a disaster like Katrina.

www.npr.org/2025/08/27/n... @npr.org

That assertion conflicts with NASA's charter from Congress in 1958, which specified that one of the core objectives of the agency is "the expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space."
(referencing @rhersher.bsky.social @afreedma.bsky.social @sciguyspace.bsky.social) 3/

DHS took 5 days to fund Texas flooding hotline, federal records show Funding for FEMA's disaster survivor hotline lapsed the day after the Texas floods, federal records show. It took DHS Secretary Kristi Noem five days to approve more money.

EXCLUSIVE: Funding for #FEMA call centers lapsed the day after the #Texas floods, and approximately 40,000 calls from survivors went unanswered, according to federal records.

The records appear to contradict statements FEMA's leader made to Congress.

Read more here: www.npr.org/2025/08/07/n...

DHS took 5 days to fund Texas flooding hotline, federal records show Funding for FEMA's disaster survivor hotline lapsed the day after the Texas floods, federal records show. It took DHS Secretary Kristi Noem five days to approve more money.

"In the week after floods tore through Texas Hill Country, most survivors were unable to get through to a federal aid hotline because the Department of Homeland Security let funding lapse" - from my @npr.org Climate Desk colleague @rhersher.bsky.social www.npr.org/2025/08/07/n...

Why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose The Trump administration has asked NASA staffers to draw up plans to end at least two satellite missions that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to current and former NASA employees.

Plans are being made to shut down the only two federal satellite missions that were designed and built specifically to monitor planet-warming greenhouse gases -- new reporting from my colleague Rebecca Hersher ‪@rhersher.bsky.social‬
www.npr.org/2025/08/04/n...

Why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose The Trump administration has asked NASA staffers to draw up plans to end at least two satellite missions that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to current and former NASA employees.

Exclusive: The Trump administration has asked NASA staffers to draw up plans to end at least two satellite missions that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to current and former NASA employees.
By @rhersher.bsky.social

In reversal, Defense Department will continue providing crucial satellite weather data About a month after announcing that it would stop sharing data that hurricane forecasters and scientists rely on, the Navy now says it will continue distributing it.

About a month after announcing that it would stop sharing data that hurricane forecasters and scientists rely on, the Navy now says it will continue distributing it.

How flood sirens could have saved lives in Texas In the wake of the deadly flash floods in Texas, state leaders are exploring whether to install more flood warning sirens. Such sirens can save lives if they're part of a larger warning system.

Can sirens help save lives during flash floods?

Yes. But they're not a silver bullet.

My story here: www.npr.org/2025/07/11/n...

Texas is relying on FEMA. State leaders said it should be cut The governor and top emergency official in Texas are both members of a council advising the Trump administration on options for eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Texas leaders are relying on FEMA money to respond to the floods. They're also working on plans to eliminate the agency as it currently exists.
My story here: www.npr.org/2025/07/09/n...

Floods are getting more dangerous around the country, not just in Texas The deadly floods in Central Texas were caused by extremely heavy rain. Climate change is causing even more rain to fall during the heaviest storms.

The deadly floods in Central Texas were caused by extremely heavy rain. Climate change is causing even more rain to fall during the heaviest storms.
By @rhersher.bsky.social and @lsommer.bsky.social

The White House took down the nation's top climate report. You can still find it here The National Climate Assessment is the most influential source of information about climate change in the United States.

The Trump administration took down the website for the top climate info source for the U.S.

But you can still access it!

Details here: www.npr.org/2025/07/01/n...

Fifth National Climate Assessment The Fifth National Climate Assessment is the US Government’s preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses. It is a congressionally mandated interagency effort that provides the sc...

Here is the web archive version of NCA5: web.archive.org/web/20250626...

Home – U.S. Sea Level Change Access federally-supported data visualizations and resources on regional sea level changes and sea level rise in the U.S.

PSA: Looking for the latest sea level information for the U.S.? This is the site you want: earth.gov/sealevel/us
(The sealevel.globalchange.gov site used to be a reliable source, but it's unclear what the future holds for that site under the Trump administration.)

Low temperatures tonight mostly in the upper 70s to near 80.

Tonight could be DC's first low of 80-plus this year. Used to be rare ... 31 from 1872 to 2009. Since 2010? 42!

Oppressive overnight readings make heat waves considerably more dangerous. Seek AC, check on vulnerable.

Forecast updates at cwg.live.

What do you love about New Orleans? Whether you left the Louisiana or stayed after Katrina, we want to hear from you.

What did you leave behind—and what did you carry with you?

Visit wwno.org/loveletters and tell us what the city means to you, then and now.

A popular climate website will be hobbled, after Trump administration eliminates entire staff Climate.gov is the main source of timely climate-related information for the public. It will stop publishing new information because the Trump administration laid off everyone who worked on it.

Climate.gov is the main source of timely climate-related information for the public. It will stop publishing new information because the Trump administration laid off everyone who worked on it.

How to Apply ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

ATTN: Investigative Journos in PA, NJ, DE, MD

@propublica.org has just opened up applications for its next round of Local Reporting Network partners!

If you've got an accountability project that you've been aching to do but haven't had the time or resources, here's your chance.

Deadline 7/21.

Protecting your home from disaster might not help you get insurance Insurance costs are soaring, and coverage is hard to find in some parts of the United States. Communities say insurers are ignoring their efforts to confront the problem.

Investments that help communities endure more extreme weather are "a path to keep insurance available," says Dave Jones, director of the Climate Risk Initiative at UC Berkeley Law. “But the insurers need to account for it in their modeling. They're not."

Homes are increasingly at risk from floods. Elevation can help Climate change is raising the risk of dangerous flooding, especially in coastal communities. For some towns on the Jersey Shore, the most practical solution is raising homes off the ground.

If your house *almost* washed away in a hurricane, what would you do next?
"My whole neighborhood got trashed. It was like an act of God that this house didn't, and I wasn't going to take that for granted, right?"
Story here: www.npr.org/2025/06/10/n... @sophia-schmidt.bsky.social @whyy.org

Was happy to speak with Rebecca Hersher at @npr.org about reforms to #FEMA that have been circling. FEMA was not perfect but it was heading in the right direction. Now it's being pushed off a cliff.

FEMA was starting to fix long-standing problems. Then came the Trump administration The Federal Emergency Management Agency has a long history of failing to help those who need assistance the most after disasters. Biden-era changes meant to fix some of those problems now face an unce...

#FEMA has a long history of failing to help the most vulnerable disaster survivors. Under the Biden administration, the agency was starting to fix those problems. Now, those reforms are in jeopardy. www.npr.org/2025/06/05/n...

Drivers of the extreme North Atlantic marine heatwave during 2023 - Nature Atmospheric reanalyses combined with ocean observations and model simulations show that the extreme 2023 North Atlantic heatwave was primarily driven by anomalously weak winds leading to strongly shoa...

Our study just out in Nature: the extreme North Atlantic heat in summer 2023 was mainly due to weak winds causing shallow mixed layers, which heat up more quickly.
Global warming is causing a trend toward shallow mixed layers, making such extremes more likely.
🌊
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Forecasters predict above-average hurricane season again Forecasters expect 13 to 19 storms to form in the Atlantic between June 1 and the end of November. At least 6 of those are forecast to be full-blown hurricanes.

Forecasters expect 13 to 19 storms to form in the Atlantic between June 1 and the end of November. At least 6 of those are forecast to be full-blown hurricanes.
By @rhersher.bsky.social

Where does your weather forecast come from? Whether you get your forecast from an app on your phone, a website or a meteorologist on TV, most of the underlying information comes from the federal government.

Whether you get your forecast from an app on your phone, a website or a meteorologist on TV, most of the underlying information comes from the federal government.
By @rhersher.bsky.social

US weather forecasting is more crippled than previously thought as hurricane season nears | CNN Several current and former agency meteorologists and staff told CNN they are concerned warnings won’t be issued in time as hurricane season nears.

NEW: US weather forecasting is in worse shape than previously known, with 30 NWS forecast offices missing meteorologists-in-charge and about a dozen offices at risk of no longer serving their communities 24/7. www.cnn.com/2025/05/02/w...

White House dismisses authors of major climate report The Trump administration dismissed all the scientists working on the next National Climate Assessment. The report is the most comprehensive source of information about climate change in the U.S.

The Trump administration has dismissed the scientists who work on the National Climate Assessment. Released every 4 years, the congressionally-mandated report is a comprehensive review of the regional impacts that climate change is having on the US. From @rhersher.bsky.social