There is an "official" process a presidential disaster declaration usually follows, but the official procedure is sometimes short-circuited by governors and presidents in the interest of political responsiveness. This study investigated factors that propel a disaster event to approval by the president in the absence of meeting full administrative requirements.

The incredible story of a flood of near-biblical proportions-its destruction, its heroes and victims, and how it shaped America's natural-disaster policies for the next century.The storm began March 23, 1913, with a series of tornadoes that killed 150 people and injured 400. Then the freezing rains started and the flooding began. It continued for days. Some people drowned in their attics, others on the roads when the tried to flee.It was the nation's...

When heavy rain causes flooding, Katie Woo and her parents spend the night in a shelter.

The purpose of this report is to document the failure of the Havana Street Dam which occurred on September 12, 2013. A site investigation was performed as soon after the dam failure as possible to collect evidence of the failure in order to document the cause and consequences of the failure and to chronicle the events so that lessons learned could be gleaned for future application to dam safety regulations, policies, and procedures.