By Donna Conneely The winter of 2015-2016 has been exceptionally wet throughout much of the continental U.S., thanks to a very strong El Niño weather pattern that has brought both devastation and salvation. The salvation has been experienced in the southwest, particularly the coastal states of California, Oregon, and Washington. These areas have been experiencing…

By Donna Conneely 100 years ago, the Chesapeake Bay was sprinkled with inhabited islands that supported thriving communities of fishermen, crabbers, and oyster-men. In fact, these islands were peopled for hundreds of years before the arrival of Europeans — recent improvements in archeological techniques have revealed that crabbing and oyster-gathering sustained Native American communities on…

By Donna Conneely It is now a full ten years since Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the City of New Orleans, killing 1833 people and leaving much of the city in utter ruin. After the storm passed, the city was physically and psychologically devastated. Many tens of thousands of the city's residents were forced to…

By Donna Conneely New York City was struck by devastating flash floods in the year 2007, followed by massive damage from Hurricane Sandy just five years later. During both these events, the transit system of the metropolis suffered catastrophic destruction, from which it is still recovering. Not surprisingly, those who are charged with maintaining the…