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Global Climate Change
essay
Resilience and Adaptation Strategies Can Address the Impacts of Climate Change
Feb 26, 2019
With climate change already generating storms, heat waves, and droughts beyond historical norms, local governments need to do more to prepare. A decisionmaking framework developed by RAND allows communities to stress-test ideas, weigh the trade-offs, and plan for a range of possible futures.
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Insurance
commentary
Why Houstonians Didn't Buy Flood Insurance
Lloyd Dixon, Noreen Clancy
Sep 12, 2017
The RAND Blog
Thousands of Houston-area homeowners will face massive, uninsured losses due to flood damage. Few homeowners buy flood insurance unless they are required to, and it's only mandatory for homes with mortgages located in FEMA-defined high-risk flood zones. People tend to ignore low-probability risks.
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Critical Infrastructure Protection
commentary
Why Engineers Need to Be Thinking About Climate Change
Kenneth Kuhn
Feb 22, 2016
Inside Science
As sea levels rise and extreme weather events become more common, evacuation routes in coastal areas will become more important. Transportation engineers need to be more proactive as they try to anticipate damage to transportation infrastructure assets such as pavement, bridges, and culverts.
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Hurricanes
blog
Hurricane Katrina: 10 Years After the Storm
Aug 27, 2015
This weekend marks 10 years since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. As the region struggled to cope and rebuild after the storm, RAND experts worked on solutions to the region's long-term challenges.
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Flooding
commentary
Future of Coastal Flooding
Debra Knopman, Robert J. Lempert @RobertLempert, Jordan R. Fischbach @fischinwater
Feb 25, 2015
The Hill
President Obama's executive order that directs federal agencies to plan and build for higher flood levels as they construct new projects in flood-prone regions will affect hundreds of billions of dollars of future public works projects. In an ideal world, planners would estimate the benefits and costs for each project, taking into account everything from the details of the local landscape to the potential for adaptive responses over time.
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Flooding
commentary
A Year After Sandy, a New Threat to New York City
Lloyd Dixon
Nov 5, 2013
The RAND Blog
As residents continue to recover from Superstorm Sandy, they are about to confront dramatic changes in the flood insurance landscape. Changes to federal floodplain maps will mean thousands of New Yorkers will suddenly be living in areas designated as high-risk flood, which will send their insurance rates soaring.
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Community Resilience
blog
In Brief: Jordan R. Fischbach on Adapting to Climate Change on the Coast
Jordan R. Fischbach @fischinwater
Feb 6, 2013
Jordan Fischbach discusses how RAND helped Louisiana develop its 2012 Coastal Master Plan and key lessons that can make other communities more resilient in the face of natural disasters.
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Flooding
commentary
In Wake of Hurricane Sandy, Look to Louisiana for Lessons
Gary Cecchine @GaryCecchine, David G. Groves, Jordan R. Fischbach @fischinwater
Nov 1, 2012
The RAND Blog
Just as public agencies across the country conducted terrorism risk assessments in the wake of 9/11, a comprehensive infrastructure assessment may be in order to understand natural hazard risks and the potential exacerbating effects of climate change, write Gary Cecchine, David Groves, and Jordan Fischbach.
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Hurricanes
commentary
Has the Gulf Coast Learned Katrina's Lessons in Time for Isaac?
Gary Cecchine @GaryCecchine, Jordan R. Fischbach @fischinwater
Aug 29, 2012
U.S. News & World Report
Seven years after Hurricane Katrina, it's clear that New Orleans and other cities along the Gulf Coast are applying what they learned then in preparation for Hurricane Isaac, write Gary Cecchine and Jordan R. Fischbach.
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Louisiana
commentary
A Flood of Innovation: Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan
Michael D. Rich @michaeldrich
May 11, 2012
RAND Review
RAND President and CEO Michael Rich writes about how RAND computer models and empirical analyses are helping protect and restore the Louisiana coast.
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commentary
Storms Blow, But We Can Cut Losses
Charles Meade
Sep 16, 2004
Times-Picayune, New Orleans
Published commentary by RAND staff.
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