IN THE NEWS

IRE and NICAR offer data, stories and tipsheets to help cover the latest

Other resources for covering the news
Resources for hurricanes

Katrina Aftermath: We have gathered additional resources in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Resources cover topics including health, toxic and hazardous waste, covering natural disasters (including past hurricanes), infrastructure, fuel issues, environmental issues, charities and mapping. There are relevant databases, stories, tipsheets and books available from IRE and NICAR. We continue to update that site as stories investigating the response are published.


Data from the IRE and NICAR Database Library Information from IRE publications
Stories available from the IRE Resource Center Tipsheets available from the IRE Resource Center
Internet Resources How to contact IRE and NICAR


Databases
Storm events
This is the official U.S. government database of storm events around the country, including hurricanes and floods. Fields in the database include: date and time the storm event began; event type; states and counties hit; latitude and longitude; property and crop damage values; and injuries and fatalities. Covering 1950-2004, the database can be a useful newsroom tool for adding punch to your weather stories. For instance, you will have a resource to determine how the storm ranks against previous ones in your area and beyond. The database can also yield enterprise stories, such as determining the most costly weather events to have hit your area. With the latitudes and longitudes, mapping some of the data is also possible.

SBA disaster loans
The Small Business Administration is a big player in assisting the owners of homes and businesses after a declared disaster. The database includes such information as the individuals' name or company name, the mailing address, a code for the type of disaster that occurred, the date the disaster loan was approved for an SBA guarantee, the amount of the loan, and, for businesses, whether the loan was fully paid or charged off (went bad).

National Inventory of Dams
Hurricanes threaten with floods. Floods can threaten dams. Dams that fail can threaten people. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' National Inventory of Dams, from 1993-2002, includes information whether the agency classifies a dam as "high hazard," meaning that if a dam fails, people are threatened downstream. It also indicates whether the dam owner has an emergency action plan, in case disaster does occur. The data also includes information dam inspection, ownership and age. See more resources about covering dams.

National Bridge Inventory
This dataset includes structural evaluations and information for bridges throughout the United States. A field that might be of special interest deals with "waterway adequacy," indicating how often water flows over the bridge and describes the resulting traffic delays. The inspection reports also include important criteria necessary for evaluating the condition of bridges as well as specific details relating to the location, age and ownership or each bridge.

Federal assistance
After every disaster, the federal government provides assistance money. In a given fiscal year, that amounts to millions. The federal assistance database, for example, lists U.S. Department of Agriculture disaster loans to farmers. With this database you will be able to track federal assistance -- grants, loans or insurance -- and see where and how much money the government is obligating to organizations and projects.

To order the data, call the Database Library at 573-884-7711 or download an order form.

Stories
To order stories from the IRE Resource Center, send e-mail to rescntr@ire.org or call us at 573-882-3364.

Story #19841
Washing Away: How south Louisiana is growing more vulnerable to a catastrophic hurricane — An investigation by the Times-Picayune's John McQuaid and Mark Schleifstein revealed that "despite billions of dollars spent on levees to protect Louisiana's coastal communities from hurricanes, those communities are becoming more vulnerable to even moderately sized storms as the state's coastal wetlands disappear. [The Times-Picayune] found that the hurricane levees surrounding New Orleans and its suburbs are not the effective barriers to storm surge that the public believes, and even their designers admit that more protection is needed. Moderate-sized storms can result in higher surges that overrop levees because the vast swath of wetlands that once protected coastal communities is disappearing at an alarming rate." (2002)

Story #21704
A (Ft. Myers, Fla.) News-Press investigation examined why a two-year-old, $8 million hurricane shelter built to withstand winds up to 140 mph collapsed during a hurricane that registered winds of only up to 110 mph. The newspaper found that DeSoto County used a low-bid contractor who lacked certification, failed to use the lates in disaster-resistant design, and appointed the county administrator to oversee the project even though he lacked any construction background. In addition, the county can no longer find the engineering documents to prove the buildings design and materials should have held up under hurricane-force winds.
Author(s): Melanie Payne; Jeff Cull; Steve McQuilkin; Year: 2004

Story #21938
WINK-Fort Myers, Fla., covers the story of hurricane victims whose insurance claims were going unanswered following the first of four Florida hurricanes in 2004. Florida's CFO, Tom Gallagher, launched a crackdown on adjusters who underpaid claims, and investigated the state's insurance pool which resulted in Congressional investigations in Washington.
Author(s): Chris Cifatte; Brian Johnson; Matt Lucht; Year: 2004

Story #21715
Following the four hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004, the Palm Beach Post's investigative team probed into why damage to homes was so significant despite seemingly stringent building codes. Politicians took 10 year to enact the stricter codes, meaning all home built within that period were inadequately prepared for hurricanes. They also found that inland homes were not held to the same standards as those located on the coast.
Author(s): Tony Doris; Christine Stapleton; Jahn Pacenti; Larry Keller; Tom Dubocq; Pat Beall; Deanna Poole; Year: 2004

Story #21483
This Tampa Tribune investigation was born out of various follow-ups to stories about the four hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004. The reporters, concerned about how the high number of mobile home in Tampa Bay held up during the hurricanes, decided to investigate how dangerous they really are. The reporters found that most of the homes were built prior to the established safety standards developed after Hurricane Andrew. The high number of unsafe mobile homes means that the region could suffer catastrophic damage during future hurricanes.
Author(s): Baird Helgeson; Doug Stanley; Year: 2004

Story #21779
This investigation by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel started with the observation that many more Floridians were receiving disaster relief funds than the number actually affected by the 2004 storms. The investigation went on to reveal that some relatively unaffected parts of Florida received even more aid than areas which took a direct hit. Residents of Miami-Dade County got more than $21 million, though the actual damage done there was equivalent to a bad thunderstorm. Reporters found that FEMA inspectors often received inadequate training to evaluate damages. The story resulted in a state legislative investigation into hurricane payments. (Also see Tipsheet #2433)
Author(s): Sally Kestin; Megan O'Matz: Luis F. Perez; John Maines; Year: 2004

Story #21380
In this excerpt from the book "Crisis on the Coast," (published by The Philadelphia Inquirer) Gilbert M. Gaul and Anthony R. Wood look at the legacy of risky building along the coast. The ever-expanding definition of federal emergencies and the legacy of risky building along the coast have made disasters into a growing industry. Beach towns and resorts benefit from disasters by using tax-payer relief funds as a form of insurance for their municipal property. These resorts and towns carry very little insurance themselves, because they know that they can rely on federal funds to cover storm damage. The average number of federal disasters has tripled since the 1950s; since then, federal agencies have spent $140 billion. Factors such as loose criteria, lax financial standards and golf course subsidies add to the expense.

Story #20789
Debra Siedt of The Star Democrat in Easton, Md., reports that in many Maryland counties, properties that get flooded are rebuilt often at the taxpayer's expense. FEMA is working on the repetitive flood losses. The report reveals this rebuilding is mainly because the flood maps have not been updated recently. (2003)

Story #14973
In Newsday's "Shoreline in Peril" series, Thomas Maier and John Riley investigated development along 75 miles of Atlantic coastline, from Fire Island to the Hamptons, and found that federal flood insurance paid to replace homes washed out to sea during storms -- in some cases, several times. The reporters used data from the National Flood Insurance Program, among many other sources. (1998)

Story #14381
The Advocate, of Baton Rouge, La., examined the National Flood Insurance Program - how a combination of poor policy choices and bureaucratic inertia led to a federally subsidized insurance program that makes little sense for taxpayers or flooded homeowners. (1997)

Story #10181
Common Cause Magazine reveals how the federal government props up the beachfront communities for the rich by underwriting insurance policies which no private company would touch; the policies promote risky construction and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions. (1993)

Story #18652
This two-part Houston Press series on flooding looks at the relationship between development, city government and Houston's flooding problem. City government continues to use outdated flood plans that allow developers to build where they shouldn't, digging inadequate detention ponds and failing to tell homeowners in flood plains that they might want to buy flood insurance. (2001)

Story #16655
The Philadelphia Inquirer takes a deep look into the development business along America's Eastern coastline beachfront properties and their vulnerability to recurring disasters that plague the area. The six-part series looks at the large amounts of money invested in shoreline areas by the government and privately owned business. (2000)

Story #16624
Amicus Journal looks at the damage caused when Hurricane Floyd flooded hog and poultry farms in North Carolina, contaminating rivers and wells. (2000)

Story #17545
WRAL-Raleigh, N.C. investigated what happens to vehicles after the insurance process was over. "...right after Hurricane Floyd flooded our area, we gathered vehicle identification numbers from flood-damaged cars. ... Our findings show most of the cars are sent all over the country and even out of the country. They went to places where potential buyers would either not know about the floods here or not grasp the severity of them." (2000)

Story #14380
The federal government poured $1 billion of disaster-relief aid into North Carolina after Hurricane Fran, the most destructive storm in state history. The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer's Craig Whitlock documented how millions of dollars were wasted on foolish projects along the state's coastline. (1997)

Story #8583
The Charlotte Observer reports on one of the most destructive hurricanes in the nation's history, Hurricane Hugo: including a day-by-day, condensed account of the disaster; detailing the damage to Charleston, S.C., and to Charlotte, N.C.; documenting individual acts of heroism by ordinary people; and looking at efforts to repair the damage and move on with life. (1989)

Story #17417
WSB-Atlanta investigates whether any Georgians have been sold cars that were damaged in Hurricane Floyd and finds what it believes to be the first Georgia case of this consumer fraud. (2000)

Story #7371
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution follows federal aid distribution after Hurricane Hugo and finds Puerto Rico received 2 1/2 times more aid than North Carolina, South Carolina and the Virgin Islands combined. (1990)

Story #16995
The Virginian-Pilot takes a look at the devastation Hurricane Camille caused in Virginia in 1969. The series focuses on how the storm affected the lives of five families. (1999)

Story #18389
Discover reports on the difficulties that modern meteorologists still face in predicting the weather. The story points to several examples of deadly storms in the recent decade, which have not been predicted until few minutes before they hit. The article reveals that weather service boasts with using "numerical weather modeling," said to be the best scientific achievement of the 20th century, but doesn't event track the accuracy of three-day forecasts. (2001)

Story #18242
Governing looks at the environmental and fiscal controversies surrounding beach nourishment pleas in hurricane-prone East Coast states, around the Gulf Coast, along the Pacific shore and across the Great Lakes. "Hunkering down to fight against the ocean may be a futile game in the long run and could ultimately only make matters worse," reports the magazine. The story points to geologists' warnings that multimillion efforts to keep sand on the coastlines have to be repeated every few years, and voices concerns that "nourishment merely makes beach towns lazy about doing serious land-planning." The report includes a sidebar with information on "sand dollars" spent by 11 states for shore protection from 1995 to 1999. (2001)

Story #17356
A Sun-Sentinel series investigates "construction problems in the City of Pembroke, one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation" in the aftermath of the Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The investigation has found that "every major subdivision built since 1992 had construction defects, and many of those homes had received city certificates of occupancy even though the city could not prove all inspections had taken place." The series details specific cases of homes with leaking roofs and windows, as well as potential safety problems. "Private home inspectors say they still see many of the same kind of shortcomings throughout South Florida that led to the mass destruction of Andrew." The reporters expose the practice of some city inspectors to spend part of their workdays at parks and fitness centers and focus on problems stemming from haphazard recordkeeping at the city building department. (2000)

Story #9202
The Miami Herald looks at housing construction and how well houses met building codes in the wake of Hurricane Andrew; it is clear that shoddy construction led to the most costly disaster in U.S. history. (1992)

Story #19815
On the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, The Miami Herald took a look at the state of new home construction in South Florida. "We found many improvements compared to 1992, but also a major flaw in suburban Broward County's system of enforcement. Unlike Miami-Dade County, Broward had no mechanism for enforcing new rules requiring new homes to withstand 140-mph gusts. (2002)

Story #9005
The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel finds private contractors hired by the U.S. government after Hurricane Andrew to remove debris and provide services such as portable toilets overcharged for their services (1992)

Search for more stories in IRE's Resource Center.

Tipsheets
IRE members can download most tipsheets in PDF format by clicking on the link to the tipsheet and logging in.
To order tipsheets from the IRE Resource Center, send e-mail to rescntr@ire.org or call us at 573-882-3364.

Tipsheet #2433
This tipsheet describes how IRE Award Finalists authors Sally Kestin and Megan O'Matz of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, gathered information for their story "Cashing in on Disaster." They give hints as to what questions to ask and what money to follow when sorting through information after a storm. For those ordering through snail-mail this tipsheet includes the 55-page story it references.

Tipsheet #1952
John McQuaid (The Times-Picayune) offers many useful federal sources for reporters working on the environmental beat, specifically focusing on fishing, invasive species, environmental justice, hurricanes and other natural disasters, and chemicals.

Tipsheet #2284
The four hurricanes that battered Florida in 2004 made for one of the most remarkable, memorable, and costly hurricane seasons in history. John Maines, South Florida Sun-Sentinel has suggestions and resources for reporters covering emergency situations, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to private companies who provide images of destruction for free.

Tipsheet #2235
Gilbert M. Gaul of The Washington Post outlines approaches to analyzing Federal Emergency Management Administration records to show "how the breathless coverage of storms greases the skids for disaster declarations." Tips include tracking how, where and to whom FEMA dollars are allocated following a disaster, whether National Flood Insurance Program premiums are covering expenses, and who are receiving Small Business Administration loans following a disaster.

Tipsheet #244
"Covering the Aftermath of a Disaster" makes suggestions for disaster-coverage, particularly focusing on preparedness; tips are listed under the following categories: Preparing for disaster-the basics, a place to work, communications, other equipment, transportation, assignments and a final word.

Tipsheet #586
Josh Meyer of the Los Angeles Times offers tips based on his experiences with covering disasters, and tips for improving disaster coverage.

Search for more tipsheets in IRE's Resource Center.

IRE Publications

The May-June 2005 issue of Uplink includes an article by Matthew Waite of the St. Petersburg Times that explains how he tracks hurricanes and their projected paths using GIS software with Microsoft Excel and Access.

In the March-April 2005 issue of The IRE Journal, Melanie Payne of the News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., about the collapse of a designated shelter during Hurricane Charley in 2004. The paper's investigation found the collapse resulted from flawed design and materials, and a lack of oversight.

The July-August 2004 issue of The IRE Journal focused on "Investigations off Breaking News." Some relevant highlights from the issue:
  • Paul Edward Parker of The Providence Journal offered ideas on creating and using a database to track the people involved in a tragedy or disaster. He says such a database is "the perfect way to manage the torrent of information that will flow out of any disaster."
  • Using the 2003 shuttle tragedy as an example, John Kelly of Florida Today outlines the benefits of a newsroom disaster-coverage plan. He stresses the importance of planning early, keeping a vision, staying focused on the bigger picture, building a reporting team with diverse styles and skills, and mining and saving public records.
"Numbers in the Newsroom," a beat book written by Sarah Cohen, includes information about hurricanes and tornadoes, including an explanation of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

There are several chapters in the Investigative Reporters Handbook about relevant areas of reporting after a storm passes: IRE members can search the indexes of The IRE Journal and Uplink. Back issues of The IRE Journal and Uplink may be purchased for $10 each. There is an additional $10 user fee for nonmembers. Check with the Resource Center at 573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org for availability.

The Investigative Reporter's Handbook, Brant Houston's Computer-Assisted Reporting book and other helpful publications are available from IRE and NICAR.

Web Links

During the Hurricane

Hurricane Aftermath

For more information, contact:
Jeremy Milarsky
Database Library Director
IRE and NICAR
E-mail: jeremy@ire.org
Voice: 573-882-1982
Fax: 573-884-5544 		Beth Kopine
Research Director
IRE Resource Center
E-mail: beth@ire.org
Voice: 573-882-6668
Fax: 573-884-8151