The Long-Awaited Buyer’s Guide to Resilient Homes is Here!

Beaufort County, SC Officially #HurricaneStrong 

Congrats to Beaufort County, South Carolina, for being named a #HurricaneStrong Community! When it comes to disaster preparedness in Beaufort County, the Sheriff’s Office plays a big role in keeping the Lowcountry on high alert.

“We’re proud to be recognized for our dedication to disaster safety,” Sheriff P. J. Tanner said. “The #HurricaneStrong designation reflects not only our high level of preparedness, but also the proven resiliency of our community.”

FEMA Chief Stresses the Crucial Role of Modern Building Codes in the Wake of Hurricane Ida

At the recent Increased Cost of Compliance conference, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell highlighted her agency’s ongoing efforts to engage the building code community and the importance of adhering to the most current codes as the intensity and frequency of natural disasters like Hurricane Ida continue to increase.

Now Live! NDRC21 Agenda

Leah Wiggs

Vice President of Government Affairs

- Renew Financial

Q: How did the Pace program begin?

A: Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) originated as a way to enable local governments to attract private capital for hard-to-achieve sustainability goals, like increased energy savings, water conservation, storm hardening, and reduced air pollution. PACE addresses two of the most significant barriers local communities face when attempting to address such sustainability goals: overcoming the up-front cost barrier property owners face when investing in clean energy and resiliency property upgrades and unlocking billions of dollars of investment capital needed to create healthier and safer communities. 

FEMA Announces Application Period for Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Programs

FEMA announced today it published funding notices for two hazard mitigation grant programs for $1.16 billion to combat climate change and protect underserved communities against disaster hazards. 

The Flood Mitigation Assistance and the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) provides funds to states, local communities, tribes, and territories for eligible mitigation activities to strengthen our nation’s ability to build a culture of preparedness. Read More >

FEMA Releases the Building Codes Toolkit

Developed by the FEMA Federal Insurance & Mitigation Administration (FIMA), Risk Reduction Division, Building Science Branch, this Building Codes Toolkit provides basic guidance and easy-to-use tools to help property owners understand building codes and the basic processes and standards associated with proper design, permitting, construction, and mitigation. Read More>

FEMA Launches National Risk Index 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) yesterday announced the full application launch of the National Risk Index, a new, free online resource that it said, “provides a clear, visual guide to natural hazard risks throughout the United States, and information to help communities to understand and reduce those risks, whether they involve flooding, wildfire, extreme heat, or drought.” Read More >

IBHS Set to Introduce "Wildfire Prepared Home" 

The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) today announced it intends to publish Wildfire Prepared Home, a set of requisite mitigation actions that when taken together will reduce a given property's wildfire risk in a suburban context, addressing the growing wildfire crisis with today's science.

Building on the Suburban Wildfire Adaptation Roadmaps IBHS published in 2020, the Wildfire Prepared Home framework incorporates available wildfire science, building performance characteristics, field investigations, data analytics insights, and contributions from other wildfire leaders. Read More >

Building Safety Groups Meet to Prevent Another Condo Collapse

Building safety organizations from around the country gathered Tuesday in West Palm Beach for a dialogue on how to prevent another Surfside condo collapse.

The panel focused on how communities monitor the safety of existing buildings, what guidance exists for building owners, and how future catastrophic events can be avoided. Read More>

Lowe’s Helps Restore the Historic Las Cruces Building as Part of 100 Hometowns Initiative

Lowe’s Home Improvement, amid a centennial celebration, is donating materials and labor to local projects with impact. In Las Cruces, Lowe's chose to help restore a historic building that houses a nonprofit focused on research and preservation of historic areas of New Mexico.

Human Systems Research has been operating in the area since 1972 and is now in a building on Melendres Street. The building was constructed in 1938 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Read More>

National Weather Service Releases New Thunderstorm Warning Category 

The National Weather Service this month launched new thunderstorm warnings designed to better inform the public of their severity. The warnings include one that will trigger alerts on smartphones within the warning area.

Thunderstorms, which can be life-threatening, are not all the same, and varying hazardous conditions include tornadoes, flash flooding, and large hail, the weather service said. The agency believes it will better be able to convey the severity and potential impact of the thunderstorms by adding a "damage threat" tag to severe thunderstorm warnings like it does for its tornado and flash flood warnings. Read More>

Simpson Strong-Tie Announces Scholarship Winners

Simpson Strong-Tie has announced the recipients of its Student Scholarship for the 2021–2022 academic year. Recipients are undergraduates in their junior and senior years, majoring in architecture, civil/structural engineering, or construction management from over 100 eligible schools. One hundred scholarships of $2,000 each were awarded to students across the country.

The Simpson Strong-Tie Student Scholarship supports higher education and promotes the design and building of safer structures in our communities by assisting university students in meeting their tuition costs. Read More>

State Farm Neighborhood Assist® Grant Winners Announced

State Farm® is giving 40 communities in 18 states an assist to fund neighborhood improvement projects. In just 10 days in August, 125,000 people cast more than 3 million votes in support of their favorite causes. State Farm is proud to announce the Top 40 vote-getting causes. Each has won a $25,000 grant to benefit their community.

State Farm Neighborhood Assist is a crowd-sourced philanthropic program. It empowers communities to identify issues in their neighborhoods. Non-profits affiliated with each of the top 40 causes receive grants to address them. Read More>

USAA Continues to Increase Focus On Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Employee Development

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and overall wellness for employees continues to grow as a strategic focus area for the USAA organization. The company recently announced Bryan Gingrich as Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I), a new role for USAA, to continue the company's commitment to building a workforce that can draw upon varied strengths to better serve its diverse membership.

Gingrich will lead the DE&I program and accelerate USAA's DE&I strategy to create an environment where all employees can be their best. Read More>

Insurers Can Integrate Weather Analytics with Verisk’s New API

Insurance claims and underwriting teams can now access detailed hail, wind, lightning, and hurricane wind analytics directly within their internal claims and policy systems with a new application programming interface (API) for Benchmark®, Verisk’s weather analysis solution. Verisk (Nasdaq: VRSK) is a leading global provider of predictive analytics and decision-support solutions.

Benchmark is a powerful weather solution that provides claims and underwriting teams with comprehensive location-specific weather peril data to help verify the cause of damage and the date the damage occurred. Read More >