Waikōloa Village Works to Find Ways to Safely and Effectively Evacuate

Designing room for rivers and coastlines can mitigate catastrophe. Following a massive flood in 1953, the Dutch government reallocated its resources toward disaster prevention and mitigation. Through measures like building surge barriers and reservoirs into recreational spaces, the Dutch have moved implemented defensive design methods. Additionally, by lowering some dykes, practices have moved from flood control to controlled flooding. The Dutch Water Ambassador serves a global role advising the UN and other countries about the Dutch engineering and design methods.

Grant programs from organizations like LISC LA, Inclusive Action, and the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce are providing flexible, no-debt financial support to fire-impacted small businesses in Altadena, enabling owners to rebuild facilities within weeks. Challenges like reduced clientele, application fatigue, and ongoing displacement, however, mean recovery remains incomplete for many.

RiverAware, an app that uses real-time data from a national network of gauges, has helped citizens, first responders, floodplain managers, scientists, and recreational users such as paddlers and anglers access river-flow data, informing or alerting communities as to when it's time to evacuate or seek higher ground. The data is aggregated from more than 13,000 stream-gauging stations around the country maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Weather Service.

In just three years, Detroit carried out an ambitious $185 million project to re-illuminate the city's 88,000 streetlights, half of which were dark, with new energy-efficient LED lights. Through its new Public Lighting Authority, the city used an innovative funding scheme to pay for the lights even in the midst of municipal bankruptcy. After the lights went up, residents felt safer, and businesses felt a noticeable bump.

Pennsylvania is the second most flood prone state in the United States. Many city and county governments, however, are working to prevent and protect the state from detrimental damage. They have created sustainable infrastructure initiatives and flood insurance policies to plan and prepare for flooding.

Tulsa Public Schools drew on expertise across many sectors and extensive neighborhood input to address the issue of thousands of empty seats in local schools. Through a community-focused process, they were able to mindfully close under-utilized schools and better maximize the community's resources for students.

In 2022, the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York created its 0% Development Advance Program, a targeted lending program, and has since then provided $460 million in eligible loans in one of five categories: small business, climate resilience or energy efficiency, infrastructure, housing, or tribal development.

In the wake of Hurricane Helene and Milton, mutual aid groups across the country are emerging to get essential supplies to thousands of people in isolated communities and working to combat misinformation and government mistrust surrounding climate change. Because mutual aid groups aren’t bound to the bureaucracy of government organizations, they’re able to act quickly and connect with community members on a deeper level.

Local Meals on Wheels programs are known for delivering food to low-income seniors, but during climate disasters, they are in the position to check in on the most vulnerable. The programs’ volunteers and staff do just that, whether that means giving fans to clients during a heatwave, tarping roofs after a hurricane, or making check-up calls.

A community-based, early-warning system for flooding in Durban, South Africa, gave community members an early enough evacuation order so that no lives were lost. The system uses information from Weather Service reports to know when and where to monitor real-time local conditions. When a community member or member of the disaster management unit sees the conditions are becoming dangerous, they use messaging apps to warn the community.