Latest news with #DepartmentofEmergencyManagement
Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Climate
- Miami Herald
Florida says it's evaluating storm evacuation options at Alligator Alcatraz
With the peak of hurricane season only days away, Gov. Ron DeSantis defended his administration's lack of a public hurricane evacuation plan for Alligator Alcatraz, the immigrant detention facility in the heart of the Everglades. In a press conference at the site on Friday, the governor pushed back at criticism that the state was unprepared for a potential storm to strike the site, where detainees are housed in air-conditioned tents and staff are staying in re-purposed post-storm FEMA trailers. 'This ain't our first rodeo,' he said. 'There's not a single place in the state that would be totally immune from having any impacts from hurricanes.' When the facility first opened in July, Florida's Department of Emergency Management told the Miami Herald it would be 'fully prepared' for a disaster but it was still working on a formal storm plan. As of Friday, the state has not fulfilled the Herald's public records request for the hurricane plan, nor has it provided a timeline for when it might be made available. READ MORE: What if a hurricane hits 'Alligator Alcatraz'? Florida drawing up evacuation plans August marks the peak of hurricane season for Florida. Forecasters have called for another active season, with 13 to 19 named storms before the season ends on November 30. 'This stuff can withstand non-major hurricanes, Cat 1, Cat 2,' DeSantis said. He pointed out that storms do tend to slow down once they make landfall and suggested that if a Category 3 storm were to strike Southwest Florida, the winds could potentially be below Category 2 strength by the time it got to the detention facility. He made no mention of the potential flood risk at the facility, which was highlighted in a recent Miami-Dade-funded assessment of the site. Kevin Guthrie, head of emergency management for the state, told media on Friday that his team recently visited several prisons in Florida to evaluate them as potential sites to evacuate detainees if a major hurricane hit. 'When we have that situation, we will have to do an evacuation, and it's incumbent upon the Florida Division of Emergency Management, with our law enforcement partners, to be able to take care of that. So yes, we are constantly looking at what we can do based on need,' he said. 'I promise you that the hurricane guys have got the hurricane stuff covered.' Emergency plans aren't always set in stone, DeSantis warned. He mentioned Hurricane Milton last year, where the state assembled first responders at Tropicana Field in Tampa but ended up removing them when it was clear the storm would likely be too intense in that area. It was; the roof was ripped to shreds.
Global News
18-07-2025
- Climate
- Global News
Nova Scotia firefighting crew to help battle Saskatchewan wildfires
Nova Scotia is sending a team of firefighters to help with out-of-control wildfires in Saskatchewan for the second time this wildfire season. The 20-person crew is scheduled to fly Saturday to Saskatoon to be briefed and learn where they will be deployed. Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton says the province is able to send the team to help in Western Canada because of limited wildfire activity in Nova Scotia. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Nova Scotia firefighters first went to Saskatchewan in late May and returned in June. The province currently has a specialist assisting in the Northwest Territories, while two communications technicians from the Department of Emergency Management helped firefighting efforts in Alberta in June. In 2024, Nova Scotia deployed fire crews or other resources six times to help with wildfires across the country. Story continues below advertisement This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2025.
Miami Herald
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
As Alligator Alcatraz adds more pavement, environmentalists add to legal complaints
The state and federal government are once again under legal fire from environmental groups over the hastily constructed immigrant detention center in the Everglades. In a newly filed legal notice, environmental groups accused the government agencies of ignoring even more environmental regulations while building and opening Alligator Alcatraz, despite the governor's pledge to have 'zero impacts' on the Everglades. The second barrage of legal documents, filed two weeks after the first lawsuit, also suggests that the detention center is already making an impact on the fragile ecosystem around it. 'With each passing day, we see visible environmental impacts on this site. We are very concerned and filed this additional legal action to ensure the law is being complied with,' said Eve Samples, head of Friends of the Everglades, one of the groups spearheading the legal challenges. Aerial photography revealed fresh patches of asphalt, including several short stretches of roads and an 11-acre patch of new blacktop. The lawsuit accuses the state and federal government of failing to get the proper permits to 'dredge and fill' those formerly open, grassy areas. Florida's Department of Emergency Management spokesperson Stephanie Hartman said that the 11-acre paved-over area was actually a patch of concrete with overgrown grass. 'The photographed areas all reflect previously paved or concrete portions of the airport, including where the asphalt is pictured,' she told the Herald. A consultant for Friends of the Everglades reviewed old aerial photography dating back to the construction of the Jetport in 1970 and never found a patch of concrete in that same spot, just vegetation. 'We doubt, looking at the aerials, if it was paved before,' said Paul Schwiep, one of the lead attorneys for the environmental groups and a partner at Miami-based Coffey Burlington. 'The statement that this was all built on the existing footprint does not appear to be correct.' The notice of intent to sue in the next 60 days also dings the state and federal government for failing to consider the potential impacts on endangered and threatened species in the area, including the Florida panther, the bonneted bat and Everglade snail kite. The original lawsuit accused the state and federal government of ignoring federal environmental laws that require them to analyze potential harms to the environment before building. 'They don't dispute that there hasn't been any analysis of any environmental impacts — impacts on wetlands, impacts on endangered species, none of it,' said Schwiep. READ MORE: Feds move in court to distance Trump administration from Alligator Alcatraz Instead, in court filings, the state has argued it didn't need to do those analyses because it was acting during an immigration-related state of emergency declared by Gov. Ron DeSantis three years ago. Federal agencies said they had nothing to do with the site — declaring it a Florida-operated detention center with no support from the Trump administration, despite the many public statements of support from federal officials at the highest levels of government. 'There are so many on-the-record statements regarding this federal state partnership,' said Samples. 'Their court filings do not align with their public statements on this topic.'
Al Etihad
06-07-2025
- Climate
- Al Etihad
Rescuers search for missing girls as Texas flood death toll hits 50
6 July 2025 08:56 (AFP)Rescuers searched on Saturday for 27 girls missing from a riverside summer camp in Texas, after torrential rains caused devastating floods that killed 50 people in the US flash flood warnings remained in place across central Texas after water surged through communities, with the Guadalupe River rise by 26 feet in just 45 Kerr County summer camp where hundreds were staying was left in disarray, with blankets, teddy bears and other belongings caked in mud."We have recovered 43 deceased individuals in Kerr County. Among these who are deceased we have 28 adults and 15 children," said Larry Leitha, the sheriff of the flood-ravaged victims were also found in other counties, bringing the death toll to Department of Emergency Management chief Nim Kidd said air, ground and water-based crews were scouring the length of the Guadalupe River for survivors and the bodies of the dead."We will continue the search until all those who are missing are found," he Governor Greg Abbott said he was expanding a state disaster declaration and was requesting additional federal resources from President Donald flooding began on Friday -- the start of the Fourth of July holiday weekend -- as months' worth of rain fell in a matter of National Weather Service (NWS) warned that more rain was forecast, and that "excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations."In Kerrville on Saturday, the usually calm Guadalupe was flowing fast, its murky waters filled with debris. "The water reached the top of the trees. About 10 meters or so," said resident Gerardo Martinez, 61. "Cars, whole houses were going down the river."Flash floods, which occur when the ground is unable to absorb torrential rainfall, are not scientists say that in recent years human-driven climate change has made extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and heatwaves more frequent and more intense. Devastation at Camp Mystic On Saturday, Sheriff Leitha said 27 children from Camp Mystic in flooded Kerr County were still missing. Around 750 girls were attending the camp along the banks of the media reported that four of the missing girls were dead, citing their families. The windows of camp cabins were shattered, apparently by the force of the obituary section of the Kerrville community news site was dotted with tributes to victims, including Camp Mystic's owner and director Dick director of Heart O' The Hills summer camp located about a mile from Camp Mystic, Jane Ragsdale, was also confirmed in Texas, four people were confirmed dead in Travis County, northeast of Kerr, and 13 people were missing, public information office director Hector Nieto told AFP. Two more people died in Burnet County, the area's emergency management coordinator Derek Marchio told AFP, bringing the state-wide death toll to 50. 'Catastrophic' Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem said Trump wanted to "upgrade the technologies" at the weather service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)."We need to renew this ancient system," Noem told a press and disaster management agencies have criticized Trump for cutting funding and staffing at the NOAA, in charge of weather forecasts and preparedness, and the asked about claims that residents were given insufficient warning of the floods, Noem said she would "carry your concerns back to the federal government."Officials and residents alike were shocked by the speed and intensity of the flooding."We didn't know this flood was coming," Kerr County official Rob Kelly said Friday."The predictions were definitely off," and the rain was "double of what was anticipated," Kerrville city official Dalton Rice said. Rice added that rescuers were facing "very difficult" conditions, and declined to give an overall figure for how many were missing.
Miami Herald
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Alligator Alcatraz has opened in the Florida Everglades. Here are some takeaways
A state-run detention facility for migrants has opened in the Florida Everglades. Alligator Alcatraz — that is the official name — was assembled in eight days and opened on July 1. President Donald Trump visited the remote site on opening day, built at an old runway near the Miami-Dade and Collier county line. Here are the top stories from the Miami Herald about Alligator Alcatraz: Alligator Alcatraz opened ready for a hurricane — but not a summer shower Shortly after President Donald Trump left the brand new detention facility to hold immigrants in the middle of the Everglades, a garden-variety South Florida summer rainstorm started. The water seeped into the site — the one that earlier in day the state's top emergency chief had boasted was ready to withstand the winds of a 'high-end' Category 2 hurricane — and streamed all over electrical cables on the floor. What if a hurricane hits 'Alligator Alcatraz'? Florida drawing up evacuation plan Florida's Department of Emergency Management, which is overseeing the facility, told the Miami Herald it's 'fully prepared for any storm that may threaten our state,' but that the formal plan for the facility is not completed yet. Lawmakers were stopped from entering Alligator Alcatraz. That may violate Florida law A group of Florida lawmakers were barred from entering Alligator Alcatraz, with a Florida official citing 'safety concerns.' Detention center driving out wildlife, damaging Everglades, critics contend Environmentalists worry that the rapidly constructed facility — which they contend sidestepped all required environmental permitting — will be harmful to the animals and ecosystem that surround it. Contractors building Alligator Alcatraz have donated money to Florida GOP, DeSantis Among at least nine state contractors involved in the creation of Alligator Alcatraz, three have given money to Gov. Ron DeSantis or the Republican Party of Florida for statewide campaigns. Alligator Alcatraz receives first immigrant detainees The first detainees arrived at Alligator Alcatraz late night July 2, even as the immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades has already faced some operational issues with security and water intrusion. How DeSantis leaned on emergency powers to build 'Alligator Alcatraz' in days Relying on an emergency order issued in January 2023 in response to a flood of Cuban and Haitian migrants arriving by boat in the Florida Keys, DeSantis seized county land and mobilized a team of private companies to build a facility big enough to hold 3,000 detained immigrants. What to know about the Everglades detention camp Questions and answers about Alligator Alcatraz as it was ready to be built.
