By Donna Conneely Rapid City, South Dakota was a medium-sized city of about 40,000 residents in 1972. The city had been founded a century earlier, after an expedition led by General George Custer had discovered gold in the surrounding Black Hills. A town sprang up in service to the hordes of fortune seekers who toiled…

By Donna Conneely August 19, 2021 was the 16th anniversary of the most destructive and deadly hurricane on record for the USA: Hurricane Katrina. On this day, as if to acknowledge the anniversary, Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana, coming in as a dangerous CAT-4 storm. In a few days, Ida would go on the…

By Donna Conneely Many news outlets are reporting on a ‘new' moon wobble that will result in an increase in coastal flooding in the coming decade. In reality, the lunar wobble is not new at all; it was first discovered in the early 1700's. Today, scientists understand that the wobble appears on a regular schedule,…

By Donna Conneely When a community suffers a flooding emergency, there are often injured people who need immediate medical assistance. But what happens if the nearest hospital is also affected by the flood? What if the hospital itself is flooded? Hospitals present numerous challenges as far as flood protection. Because the patient areas must be…