Duke Energy Foundation announces $500,000 in grants to boost storm preparedness across NC
The Duke Energy Foundation announced Thursday that it's dedicating $500,000 in grants to support storm preparedness and natural disaster response. Organizations across North Carolina can apply for the grants, which are awarded in increments up to $25,000, between now and April 25.
'The impact of Hurricane Helene last fall showed us the importance of strong collaboration between emergency management agencies, first responders and nonprofit organizations when it comes to natural disasters,' said Kendal Bowman, Duke Energy North Carolina state president. 'We're proud to support storm preparedness efforts in the communities we serve as they continue to grow and see new opportunities to bolster resilience to severe weather events.'
HELENE RECOVERY: Bill filed in NC Senate seeks $150 million for housing efforts in Helene-impacted areas
Here are the types of programs and initiatives the Duke Energy Foundation is looking for:
Collaborative programming across agencies, organizations and communities for disaster preparedness and response
Initiatives for local communities to prepare for natural disasters or extreme weather
Training, developing materials, kits and other community engagement and education initiatives to localize storm preparedness
First responder training specifically for natural disaster scenarios
HELENE RECOVERY: Part of I-40 in western NC to open by March
This is not a new thing for the Duke Energy Foundation, as they have awarded nearly $5.6 million to storm preparedness since 2020, including funding for the City of Wimington to install new flood gauges, funding for the City of Raleigh to distribute weather radios to vulnerable neighborhoods and funding for a drone program in Person County for public safety measures during natural and manmade disasters.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indianapolis Star
11 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
We don't need coal. Connecting new energy sources will meet AI's demand.
Deputy Opinion Editor Jacob Stewart offers well-placed criticism of the monopolistic stranglehold enjoyed by investor-owned energy utilities in Indiana in his column, 'Data centers are inevitable, but why should Indiana pay for their energy demand?' It is questionable whether the recent influx of data center construction proposals is of such national importance as to warrant collective bowing to the artificial intelligence industry, but having a national, modernized electrical grid warrants significant federal funding and incentives. Unfortunately, the Big Beautiful Bill will terminate federal incentives for renewable energy development while increasing incentives for the development of fossil fuel production and energy usage, despite their harmful environmental impact. With that in mind, I question whether we should applaud the settlement won by Reliable Energy, requiring Duke Energy to study whether its expensive, aging coal plants should be sold to a third party instead of being retired. A bigger impediment to meeting energy production demands in the U.S. is the backlog in approving the connection of new energy generating resources to the transmission grid, which can take as much as three to five years. Opinion: Data centers, sports betting fuel Indiana's vampire economy The total electric generating capacity of proposed new plants awaiting interconnection approval is reported, as of mid-2024, to be around 2,600 gigawatts, which is more than double the entire existing generating capacity in the U.S. The backlog is reportedly attributable to several factors, including an explosion of new renewable energy projects, a shortage of engineers and technicians to perform the technical interconnection analyses and a clunky process for the review and approval of projects. These issues should be addressed, along with the problem Stewart focuses on, establishing equitable cost allocations for construction of transmission lines among affected states and ratepayers.
CNBC
a day ago
- CNBC
Hurricane risk in Florida is escalating. Home insurance is harder to get
Dayna and Matt Fancher lost their home in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, to Hurricane Ian in 2022. One month into this year's hurricane season, the couple is still paying their home insurance policy — now twice as costly — while fighting the firm in court over their claim. The Fanchers, who have lived in their Fort Myers Beach home for almost three decades, said their home insurance provider paid them only a third of what it would cost to rebuild their home, and that adjusters repeatedly disputed their storm damage claims. In the end, the Fanchers say, they took out construction loans to be able to move back into their home. "We have the same coverage that we had, we're paying double, and we didn't get the assistance that we needed," Matt Fancher said. The Fanchers' predicament is just one of many linked to the insurance crisis in hurricane-prone Florida. Rates are sky-high and expected to continue rising as catastrophe claims surge and Floridians face few insurance options and increased scrutiny during underwriting. Since 2021, Florida has experienced four major hurricanes: Ian, Helene, Idalia and Milton, and premiums have climbed by nearly 30% statewide. Florida residents can now expect to pay almost $10,000 a year on average in premiums, making the state the most expensive place in the U.S. to buy homeowners insurance. In Fort Myers Beach, a small town on narrow Estero Island off Fort Myers, annual premiums jumped from about $9,000 to almost $14,000 from 2019 to 2024, according to data obtained by First Street Foundation, a climate risk modeling firm. In the wake of Hurricane Ian, Floridians filed more than half a million residential catastrophe claims, according to Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation. Up against an estimated $50 billion to $65 billion in insurance losses associated with Hurricane Ian, several homegrown Florida property insurers were declared insolvent, while major national insurers like Farmers announced they would pull back or no longer offer coverage in the state due to increased hurricane risk. Some legislative reforms have helped stabilize the market for insurance in Florida, according to Mark Friedlander, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, an industry association for insurers. He said in 2024, the state saw the lowest average statewide premium increases in the country for home insurance and that more than a dozen new insurers had entered the market there. But hurricane risk in Florida is escalating as human-caused climate change warms the atmosphere and raises sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico. Hotter conditions are trapping moisture and fueling hurricane intensification, creating wetter, more powerful hurricanes that leave Florida increasingly vulnerable to storm damage. During Hurricane Helene, moisture trapped in the warming atmosphere increased extreme rainfall by 10%, bringing rainfall totals as high as 26.95 inches in parts of Florida. Jeremy Porter, a climate risk expert at First Street Foundation, says that rising insurance costs signal the deep impacts of climate change in west Florida, as communities like Fort Myers Beach grapple with recurring damage and costly recoveries. "Over the last few decades, we haven't kept up with climate risk and quantified it properly in our risk modeling. Now, we're playing catch-up and it's driving up insurance rates very rapidly, and people are feeling that in their household budgets," Porter said. With scarce options for home insurance, more and more Floridians have started buying insurance from Citizens Insurance Property Corp., Florida's not-for-profit state-backed insurer, and Porter says this rapid movement has also pushed up insurance costs. By 2055, Porter says home insurance premiums could rise by 213% in the Tampa metro area because of hurricane risk. Climate risks are also disrupting insurance markets in other parts of the country. In Sacramento, California, residents may face a 137% increase due to increased wildfire danger, for example. Porter said declining home prices in Florida could also affect home insurance rates and availability. When property values fall in places that are vulnerable to hurricanes or other extreme weather, insurers may interpret that decline as a warning sign of growing physical or market risk, leading to increased scrutiny during underwriting and potential spikes in premiums. According to Zillow data, home values in Fort Myers Beach are down about $200,000 from their pre-Ian prices, and about 86% of sales over the last year came in under list price, a general sign that sellers are having a difficult time offloading their properties. At its peak before Hurricane Ian, the average home value on Sanibel Island, a popular spot in Lee County for beach vacationers, was almost $1.3 million. Today, that value is $868,000, with 93% of all homes being sold under list price, according to Zillow. Joanne Klempner, who has lived part time in Fort Myers Beach since 2016, says that selling her home is not a financially viable option after spending so much on reconstruction post-Hurricane Ian. With little choice but to stay in Fort Myers Beach, Klempner said she worries about how climate change will affect the future of her community. "At this point, we're in for the long haul because we have to be. I think whether people want to continue to invest in Fort Myers Beach is the bigger question," Klempner said. "When you don't have a hurricane for 30 years, the risk feels worth it to live in paradise. When you have three bad hurricanes within 18 months, it becomes questionable." Jacki Liszak, the president and CEO of the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce, says that Fort Myers Beach is still a great place to live and visit, and that the community is investing in resilient architecture and building homes well above the flood line. "The houses have to be built strong and they have to be built high," Liszak said. "I think that will help tremendously. People were already starting to come, and I think they will continue to come. People love this lifestyle. It's a beautiful part of the world."
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Bloomington Duke Energy union workers could strike if new negotiations fail
Union workers at Duke Energy in Bloomington and around Indiana may go on strike soon if renewed negotiations don't succeed. The union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said the company is lagging behind competitors on wages and insurance and is refusing to negotiate on the latter. The company says its goal is to reach a 'mutually beneficial agreement.' 'We have great respect for all our employees and the important work they perform. In light of the vote by the union, we are in communications with union leadership about resuming negotiations,' Duke Energy said in a statement. A local IBEW steward estimated the union represents around 30 Duke workers in and around Bloomington. Statewide, it has almost 1,000. The company said it has contingencies to keep service running in case of a work stoppage. Access Bloomington news anywhere with the Herald-Times app The company is in the third round of negotiations with the IBEW. It's submitted two proposals to the union so far. Workers overwhelmingly voted against both. If the next negotiations fail, the union could be headed toward a strike. Union-Duke negotiations The last contract Duke submitted contained several wage increases over the next couple years: A 4.5% increase retroactive starting May 1, 2025. A 4.5% increase starting May 1, 2026. A 4% increase starting May 1, 2027. A 3.75% increase starting May 1, 2028. A 3.5% increase starting May 1, 2029. It also included several other changes. But Christopher Wilson, IBEW Local 1393's business manager and financial secretary, said the most important issues left out of that contract were health insurance and 401ks. Wilson said the company has refused to negotiate those points. 'We've got a $98 billion company who's self insured, who's not even willing to come off $25 off insurance premiums,' Wilson said. Matthew Burks, an IBEW steward and Duke worker in Bloomington, paid around $350 in copays for his first child around a decade ago with the company's insurance. He said those benefits started to erode, to the point where premiums cost $10,000 now. He said he's seen longtime workers — people who have worked up to 30 years at Duke — leave the company for other opportunities. That turnover, he said, has hurt the company by removing experienced workers who'd be able to help newer workers and apprentices learn the ropes. 'Instead of having somebody that's been driving for 20 years teaching a 16-year-old how to drive, now you've got the 17-year-old teaching them,' Burks said. Next steps for Duke and IBEW IBEW and Duke will next meet on July 16 to continue negotiations. Wilson said he's not overly optimistic on the next round's chance of success. If it fails, the union will likely try to strike. "The only thing we have left to do is meet with the company," Wilson said. "If they're not willing to improve the package, then we will proceed on to a strike and be hitting the bricks." The key things they're looking for are higher wage increases and insurance benefits. Wilson said they'd gladly move down on wages if the company moves on insurance. When The Herald-Times brought the union's allegation to Duke Energy, the company referred to its initial statement. Burks also said he doesn't believe the company has been bargaining in good faith. When he started out, he said, becoming a Duke lineman or getting employed with the company was the 'job to have.' But he said it's not that way anymore. 'I feel like when we're asking for not much, that I'm cautiously optimistic,' Burks said. 'But so far, I've been let down every single time.' Contact Andrew Miller at AMiller@ This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington Duke Energy union workers could strike. What to know. Solve the daily Crossword
