
All of Minnesota remains under air quality alert Monday
Smoke from Canadian wildfires prompted the alert, which is set to expire at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The northern half of the state will likely see the worst air quality.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said the smoke should begin dispersing from west to east Monday evening into Tuesday morning.
Highs on Monday will be in the mid-80s, with dew points dipping slightly. Tuesday and Wednesday will bring much lower humidity, with highs in the low 80s.
Northern Minnesota could be in for some storms Tuesday night, while the Twin Cities' next best chance for rain is Wednesday.
The humidity returns Thursday, along with more storm chances.
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Lee Fire now fifth-largest single wildfire in Colorado history. These are the other four.
The Lee Fire near Meeker is now over 113,000 acres, fire maps show, and has surpassed the Spring Creek Fire of 2018 as the state's fifth-largest wildfire. Over 1,000 firefighters and a dozen aircraft are involved in efforts to contain and extinguish the fire, along with the nearby Elk Fire. A number of evacuations have already been ordered. For a live, interactive evacuation zone map, you can click here. The size of the fire has exploded since growing from 13,000 to almost 23,000 acres on Aug. 6, when Gov. Jared Polis issued an emergency disaster declaration. It has grown steadily in the days since, breaking 100,000 acres on Sunday. The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control maintains a list of the largest wildfires in the state's history. A quick overview of the agency's data shows the following: No homes have been lost in the fire, but several structures have been damaged. A full accounting of the damage likely can't be completed until the fire is extinguished, and as of Monday afternoon, it was only 7% contained. The most destructive fires in the state's history so far are as follows: At its current size on Monday, only four fires in state history are larger than the Lee Fire, although the West Fork Complex of 2013 comprised several fires in close proximity to one another, including the West Fork Fire at 58,570 acres and the Papoose Fire at 49,628 acres. Some rankings group the fires all as one, but the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control categorizes and ranks them separately. That agency's list shows the following four fires as being the only ones larger than the Lee Fire: Weather conditions are not expected to help containment efforts for some time, with relatively low humidity and winds of 7 to 10 mph until Friday. "Near critical fire weather will return today," the Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team said in a statement. "This will include low relative humidity, periods of gusty winds from the north and clouds in the late afternoon. Critical dry fuels with the expected weather could result in extreme fire behavior in some areas of the Lee Fire." There will be a community meeting about the Lee Fire at 7 p.m. on Monday at Colorado Mountain College's Rifle Campus, 3695 Airport Road, where fire officials will provide updates to the public and answer any questions that community members have.


Washington Post
an hour ago
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Yahoo
an hour ago
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Not many people in Wisconsin have flood insurance. Here's what to know about how it works.
As residents across the Milwaukee area assess the scope of damage from the weekend deluge, just 1,186 households have federal flood insurance policies in place. As emergency crews continue responding to hundreds of calls, it isn't clear yet what the toll of the financial damage will be for this 1,000-year flooding event. But Sarah Smith, director of public affairs for the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, said even 1 inch of water can cause up to $25,000 in damage. Over the next 30 years, Wisconsin households in the low- to moderate-flood-risk zones will experience five times more flooding than fire-related events, Smith said, yet the state has one of the lowest numbers of flood insurance policies per capita in the country. As of July 31, the state Office of the Commissioner of Insurance counted 10,541 federal flood insurance policies across the Wisconsin's more than 2.7 million households. The state did not provide data on how many households use private insurance, but said the majority of residents with flood insurance are using federal. That's a problem considering Wisconsin building codes don't include any kind of flood plain regulations that would stipulate how to elevate a building, or where not to build based on floodplains, said Sarah Rafajko, the state's National Flood Insurance Program coordinator. People sometimes mistakenly assume they can't get flood insurance because they don't live in a flood zone or because they rent their home or apartment. "It's available to anybody, whether they're in the floodplain or not," Rafajko said. "And it can make a really big difference." What is flood insurance? Flood insurance covers financial losses of structures and belongings directly caused by flooding. Consumers have two primary options for flood insurance — the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or private insurance. NFIP is managed by FEMA and bases rates on where a property is located on the flood zone map. Homeowners can use an online NFIP tool to search their ZIP code and find out their area's risk. Smith noted that FEMA's maps and risk models derive from historic floodplain data, not future projections that would include the impact of climate change. Homeowners with a federally backed mortgage are required by their lender to have flood insurance if they're located in a high-risk zone. Private insurance generate premiums based on a property's unique flood risk rather than on zone regulations. Why is flood insurance a separate cost from homeowners insurance? Flood events are too uniquely catastrophic to be included in most homeowners insurance plans. It wasn't until Congress established NFIP in 1968 to oversee floodplain management regulations that flood insurance became available. Communities that chose to receive federal insurance were required to adopt minimum standards for flood management. More: Does home and rent insurance cover flood damage? What to know after Milwaukee floods Can I get flood insurance if I rent? Just as homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods, neither does the majority of renters insurance. Even if a landlord has flood insurance for the building, their insurance won't cover a renter's belongings. Through NFIP, renters can purchase contents-only flood insurance plans that cover up to $100,000 in belongings. How much does flood insurance cost? It depends on where you are and whether you chose NFIP or private insurance. NFIP price ranges from $600 to $1,200 per year, typically. If you live in a floodplain, however, it can be in the $4,000-per-year range. If you opt for private insurance, it also varies based on the private assessment done on your property. Unlike NFIP, private companies can opt to drop someone from their plan for any reason, and can also refuse to take residents on if they live in a floodplain, Rafajka said. Residents who don't know whether to go the route of NFIP or private can reach out to local insurance agents in Wisconsin. Most sell both kinds of insurance and can quote both, Rafajka said. Otherwise, homeowners and renters can get a quote directly from to find out what their flood insurance options are. What does it typically cover? Under NFIP, the maximum building coverage provided is $250,000 and the maximum belonging coverage is $100,000, Rafajka said. These residents are also granted $30,000 in compliance coverage, which enables residents to rebuild in ways that comply with flood codes. A big upside of private insurance, Rafajka said, is it can provide replacement costs. That's going to be more beneficial for people who own properties worth considerably more than the maximum building cap of $250,000 provided by NFIP. Why would Wisconsin residents need flood insurance? There's a saying among those who work in natural resources: "Wherever it rains, it can flood." That's part of why Rafajka emphasized the importance of investing in flood insurance. Rafajka recommends recording yourself doing a walk-through of your apartment or home as video evidence of your belongings. Visuals like this will come in handy later — to which Rafajka, who lives in a floodplain, can attest. It's a saying that tracks for Smith, from the state Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, who said 40% of all flood claims in Wisconsin occurred in low- to moderate-risk areas. Flood insurance has a standard 30-day waiting period, Smith said, an important consideration for homeowners and renters to think about ahead of flood season, which begins in the months of March and April in Wisconsin. The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance has more information about flood insurance on its webpage and in a FAQ Sheet. Natalie Eilbert covers mental health issues for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She welcomes story tips and feedback. You can reach her at neilbert@ or view her X (Twitter) profile at @natalie_eilbert. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Flood insurance rare in Wisconsin. What to know about how it works.