Latest news with #MassachusettsEmergencyManagementAgency
New York Times
10-07-2025
- Climate
- New York Times
Heavy Rains Lash Boston Area, Shutting Down Roads
Heavy rain shut down a major highway and forced road closures in Massachusetts on Thursday, officials said, as forecasters issued flash flood warnings for Boston and nearby counties. Portions of Interstate 93, a 190-mile-long highway that connects Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, were closed because of flooding, the Massachusetts State Police said. Several vehicles were stranded on the highway because of floodwaters, local news media reported. The southbound exit in Milton, a suburb south of Boston with a population of about 28,000 people, was closed, and a highway lane leading to Quincy, another suburb, was inaccessible because of flooding early on Thursday, the authorities said. Flash flood warnings, indicating that flooding is taking place or about to happen, were issued for parts of Norfolk, Suffolk and Plymouth counties. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency warned commuters to avoid flooded roads, where vehicles can be swept away in less than two feet of moving water, and to not drive around barriers set up to divert traffic. By midmorning, between 2 and 4 inches of rain had fallen in the areas covered by the warning, and up to 2 more inches of rain were possible, it said. Other cities and suburbs that are expected to experience flash flooding include Weymouth, Braintree, Randolph, Stoughton, Dedham, Hingham, Canton, Scituate, Winthrop, Holbrook, Hull, Cohasset and Avon.
Boston Globe
08-07-2025
- Climate
- Boston Globe
As flash floods intensify, current alert systems put lives at risk, including in New England
'We knew that we were going to see thundershowers and storms through the night, but we hadn't had any kind of a warning that there might be flooding,' said Chad Whitehead, the town manager. 'And then the storm came through' and dumped eight inches of rain as it stalled directly over St. Johnsbury. Advertisement Aftermath of flash flooding on Concord avenue along the Passumpsic River in St. Johnsbury, Vt., on July 30, 2024. Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff In the wake of the deadly The typical alerts are those jarring messages on your TV, radio, or cell phone warning of imminent danger, such as flash floods, extreme heat, or dangerous winds. A series of alerts were issued in Texas, but it Landing quick alerts is a problem that all emergency responders confront, said Dawn Brantley, director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. Advertisement A fallen street sign lays by the river as search-and-rescue personnel continue on Monday to look for missing people in Texas. Joshua Lott/The Washington Post 'If you don't have cell service, you cannot receive the alert,' she said. Some security settings on phones might preclude an alert, and some people manually turn alerts off. Others who use internet for their phone service may run into a different problem, because the internet sometimes logs people's locations incorrectly, and alerts are targeted to specific geo-locations. Related : Other alerts may be issued by state or local communities, though those often require opting in — meaning not everyone will get the message. That was the case in Leominster two years ago when 11 inches of rain fell in a matter of hours. The city texted and emailed a 'Code Red' message, but residents had to opt in to get them. Mazzarella reached out to emergency managers to call for help. And, he also took to social media, broadcasting live over Facebook. 'I immediately started saying, 'Do not go outside. Do not go outside,'' he said, and thousands of viewers received his warning in real time. Meanwhile, emergency managers and transit workers from the state rushed to aid swamped residents in Leominister and fire departments from around the region went door to door to help. Vehicles made their way through a flooded Lancaster Street during heavy rain in Leominster on Sept. 11, 2023. Rick Cinclair/Associated Press And when the storm hit St. Johnsbury, just days after an earlier extreme storm, the National Weather Service in Burlington had the phone number of Eric Forand, director of Vermont Emergency Management, on the wall and knew to quickly alert him. 'The relationship that we had, I'm positive saved a lot of lives because they were very quickly able to contact us, and we were very quick to get rolling,' Forand said. Advertisement These kinds of intense flash floods have become a hallmark of climate change, said Zachary Zobel, risk associate director at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Falmouth. 'Because the atmosphere is warmer, it can hold more water,' he said. And, New England has experienced the 'We have two options, essentially, to adapt a warmer climate, the first of which is to upgrade our infrastructure, which is obviously quite expensive,' said Zobel. 'The second of which, and this is more on the life-saving aspect of these storms, is to upgrade our forecasting tools and our advanced warning and to have plans in place.' In Texas, investigators will need to sort out what went wrong, or could've been done better. Officials combed through the banks of the Guadalupe River after a flash flood swept through the area on July 5 in Hunt, Texas. Julio Cortez/Associated Press The entire process of preparing for and managing a potential flash flood requires a lot of coordination between the federal, state, and local governments. Forecasting data comes mostly from the National Weather Service, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). State meteorologists contribute too, though they also rely on datasets from the federal government. Following deep staffing cuts at the National Weather Service and NOAA, meteorologists and climate scientists have warned the country's ability to predict and respond to extreme events would be hampered. It's not clear whether that played a role in the devastation in Texas, but going forward, emergency responders said it could. 'All meteorologists rely on NOAA's robust suite of products and services to help safeguard communities,' said Brantley. 'Any impact to NOAA's capability and the National Weather Service's capability potentially has significant impacts.' Advertisement Marissa Anderson, a spokesperson for the National Weather Service, said the agency is working on filling roles with the greatest operational need, with the agency advertising 'a targeted number of permanent, mission-critical field positions' to 'further stabilize frontline operations.' Still, many worry about the impacts the Trump administration's cuts could soon have during this year's hurricane season. 'When you're talking about a 25 percent reduction in staffing ... budgets, the brain drain of losing their entire senior leadership and that expertise and experience, we don't know how you can say it's not going to be impacted,' said Brantley. Funding cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will likely play a part, too. President Trump has said he plans to eliminate the agency entirely, and that states should take on more responsibility, though he said no major changes will be implemented until after hurricane season ends in November. Related : But there have been some impacts on New England already. In March, Trump And a program that sends FEMA workers door-to-door following a disaster to help people file claims has been cancelled. After the floods in Leominster, that FEMA program found more people who needed help than a state or city could have, said Brantley, especially the historically marginalized or underserved. In New England, cuts to FEMA could be particularly problematic, warned Samantha Montano, an assistant professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Advertisement 'Because we are smaller states, we have less emergency management resources, so we're more dependent on FEMA,' she said. It's not clear yet how FEMA's budget cuts will play out, but 'what we do know is that there have been cuts and money paused related to mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery,' Montano said. 'That is going to have an effect at the state and local level all across the country.' Globe lead meteorologist Ken Mahan contributed to this report. Sabrina Shankman can be reached at
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump administration cuts millions in disaster relief funds for Massachusetts
BOSTON (WWLP) – The Trump Administration is freezing more than $90 million worth of disaster relief funding in Massachusetts. Massachusetts sees first drop in emergency shelter cases since 2023 The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant program, also known as BRIC, has been canceled, which provides disaster prevention aid to municipalities across Massachusetts. The cancelation revokes $90 million for 18 communities, a regional planning commission, as well as two state agencies. BRIC is an annual FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grant that's funded by FEMA and administered through a partnership with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). The following municipalities and agencies are expected to be impacted by the cancellation: Boston: $22,894,600 for Resilient Moakley Park Acton: $67,500 for Jenks Conservation Land Culvert Improvements Chelsea and Everett: $49,999,999 for Island End River Coastal Flood Resilience Project Hull: $49,500 to enhance Hull's Existing Adopted Codes Hinsdale: $81,720 for Powering the Hinsdale Public Safety Complex Wilbraham: $150,000 for Glenn Drive Pump Station Generator Lynnfield: $80,302.50 for Implementation of Permitting System Longmeadow: $74,156 for Building Code Activities Grafton: $37,500 for Merriam Road Culvert Improvement Project Scoping Rockport: $320,000 for Thatcher Road Corridor Resilient Design Newburyport: $50,250 for Drinking Water and Watershed Regulations Assessment & Update Northbridge: $37,500 for Permitting Process Upgrade Whately: $63,750 for Christian Lane Stormwater Flooding Brockton: $124,050 for Keith Field Culvert Project Scoping North Adams: $144,000 for Galvin Road Culvert Improvements Project Scoping Taunton: $195,000 for Cobb Brook Culvert Study Project Scoping Gosnold: $75,000 for Protection of Cuttyhunk Island's Water Supply Project Scoping Rockport: $8,437.50 for Building Code Capabilities Enhancement Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission: $321,021 for Regional Building Code Inspection and Training Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR): $11,969,908 for Tenean Beach/Conley Street Resilient Waterfront Project in Boston and $505,516 for Building Code Higher Flood Standards Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA): $675,000 for Massachusetts Building Code Access, $300,000 for Statewide Voluntary Buyout Program Feasibility Study & Pilot Program, and $1,873,013 for State Management Costs 'In recent years, Massachusetts communities have been devastated by severe storms, flooding and wildfires. We rely on FEMA funding to not only rebuild but also take steps to protect against future extreme weather,' said Governor Healey. 'But the Trump Administration has suddenly ripped the rug out from under cities and towns that had been promised funding to help them upgrade their roads, bridges, buildings and green spaces to mitigate risk and prevent disasters in the future. This makes our communities less safe and will increase costs for residents, municipalities and businesses.' 'As a former Mayor, I know firsthand how cities and towns rely on FEMA funding to recover from disasters and prepare for the next storm. We urgently need to be making our communities more resilient, but the Trump Administration is undermining this important work,' said Lieutenant Governor Driscoll. 'Our administration is here to support our local leaders as much as we can, and we have impactful resilience programming underway, but we need the federal government to uphold their end of the bargain.' 'Climate change cannot be ignored. For every dollar we invest in resilience today, we save $13 in avoided damages and economic impacts,' said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper. 'At DCR, we were preparing to upgrade Tenean Beach, elevate Conley Street, and restore the nearby wetlands to provide important flood protection to nearby environmental justice communities and public transit. Each BRIC award represents a neighborhood that needs support. These are real costs our communities will bear with the loss of BRIC funding.' 'The Trump Administration's unlawful cancellation of nearly $35 million in federal grants for flood protection projects at Moakley Park and Tenean Beach will put jobs, people, and property at risk. These crucial projects follow years of community planning for critical access to open space while securing vulnerable flood paths so that thousands of families in the surrounding neighborhoods would be protected from storm surge and coastal flooding. We will fight to restore this funding to protect our communities.,' said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
16-04-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Trump administration's $90 million cut to disaster prevention aid to Mass. towns makes ‘communities less safe,' Healey says
Advertisement The words of Healey, a Democrat, were echoed by Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, who also criticized the Republican administration in Washington for the cuts. 'As a former Mayor, I know firsthand how cities and towns rely on FEMA funding to recover from disasters and prepare for the next storm,' Driscoll said in the statement. 'We urgently need to be making our communities more resilient, but the Trump Administration is undermining this important work.' Driscoll said state officials are 'here to support our local leaders as much as we can, and we have impactful resilience programming underway, but we need the federal government to uphold their end of the bargain.' Healey's office said the BRIC program is an annual FEMA grant administered through a partnership with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. Advertisement Among the projects affected by the Trump cuts are $22.8 million for a 'Resilient Moakley Park' in South Boston, officials said. 'The Trump Administration's unlawful cancellation of nearly $35 million in federal grants for flood protection projects at Moakley Park and Tenean Beach will put jobs, people, and property at risk,' said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu in a statement. 'These crucial projects follow years of community planning for critical access to open space while securing vulnerable flood paths so that thousands of families in the surrounding neighborhoods would be protected from storm surge and coastal flooding. We will fight to restore this funding to protect our communities.' The funding cuts also include a clawback of $49.9 million for the 'Island End River Coastal Flood Resilience Project' in Chelsea and Everett, according to Healey's office. 'Losing the FEMA funding that was initially approved in 2018 under the Trump Administration means not being able to address critical flooding that often threatens thousands of residential homes, access to our regional supply of fresh produce as well as a major and vital transportation corridor to the North Shore,' said Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria in a statement. 'In addition to crippling our regional economy, this flooding is expected to happen almost weekly within five years and would cause the release of petrochemicals and hazardous materials that had been isolated for public health and safety.' Chelsea City Manager Fidel Mantez also decried the cuts. 'Chelsea is an environmental justice community that supports a significant share of the region's essential infrastructure and services,' Mantez said. 'The loss of BRIC funding for the Island End River Flood Barrier project puts over $7 billion in annual economic activity—and the safety of more than 5,000 residents living in the floodplain—at risk. We urge the administration to reconsider and restore this critical investment in frontline communities.' Advertisement The Trump administration 'Climate change cannot be ignored. For every dollar we invest in resilience today, we save $13 in avoided damages and economic impacts,' said state Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper in a statement. 'At DCR, we were preparing to upgrade Tenean Beach, elevate Conley Street, and restore the nearby wetlands to provide important flood protection to nearby environmental justice communities and public transit. Each BRIC award represents a neighborhood that needs support. These are real costs our communities will bear with the loss of BRIC funding.' Travis Andersen can be reached at
Boston Globe
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Healey files $756 million supplemental budget to address ‘time-sensitive deficiencies'
The legislation additionally includes $15 million for grants and marketing related to the American Revolution 250th anniversary celebration, and $15.5 million for Advertisement 'This budget bill proposes targeted investments that improve quality of life in Massachusetts, such as ensuring access to health care, supporting families with child care costs, and making sure veterans get their benefits,' Healey said in a statement alongside the bill. 'We've also heard clearly from local officials and medical professionals across the state, especially in communities impacted by Steward Health Care's closures, that they need more support. That's why we're proposing significant funding for EMS providers that have faced extraordinary costs. Our administration remains committed to maintaining a responsible state budget that tangibly benefits the people of Massachusetts.' Advertisement Other sections of the 25-page bill would ratify collective bargaining agreements with public employees, raise procurement thresholds under public construction laws, and allow Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency vehicles to use red and blue lights when responding to emergencies. The Legislature's Joint Committee on Ways and Means is partway through a series of hearings about Healey's $62 billion fiscal 2026 state budget, and the panel
