Top Disaster Stories From SEJournal

Updated October 2026

TipSheets

• Counting Heat Deaths When Official Data Is Deceptive [2]
• Is Climate Disaster Insurance a Worsening Disaster? [3]
• Is Disaster Aid Backlog Becoming a (Blue State) Disaster? [4]
• Dam Safety Firings Leave Downstream Residents at Risk [5]
• When Disasters Hit, Nursing Homes Can Be Disasters Waiting To Happen [6]
• Will Your Local Dam Turn Deadly in the Next Big Storm? [7]
• Is Your Community Ready for Tornadoes? Are You? [8]
• New HeatRisk Data Site Helps Warn on Health Threats [9]
• Drainage Infrastructure Leads to Wet Basement Stories [10]
• Do Home Buyers Have a Right to Flood Risk Disclosure? [11]
• Home Insurance Likely To Be a 2024 Climate Story Near You [12]
• Dangerous Inland Flooding in Reporters’ Forecast [13]
• When Extreme Weather Amplifies Hazardous Waste Threats [14]
• Finding the Secret Rail Hazmat Routes Near You [15]
• Keeping Up With Victims Displaced by Climate Disasters [16]
• Ready for Climate Change-Induced Grid Blackouts Along With Heat Waves? [17]

Toolboxes

• Hazard Duty — Government Data Portals Help Report Extreme Weather [18]
• Trump Tries (and Fails) To Disappear Climate Disaster Data [19]
• Database of Flood Events Helps Cover Catastrophes, Past or Present [20]
• As One Door Shuts on Climate Risk Data, News Outlet Opens Another [21]
• New-Look Landslide Risk Database Captures Potential Human Costs [22]
• Spill-Tracking Data Sources Help Cover Hazmat Events [23]
• Here’s Your Handy Doomsday Dataviz Dashboard [24]
• Coming Your Way by Rail Today — A Hazmat Rogues’ Gallery [25]
• Hazmat Highway Routes Key to Keeping Public Safe [26]
• Outfit Your News Kit With Disaster Resilience Resources [27]
• Storm Surge Maps Help Envision Potential Hurricane Flood Catastrophes [28]
• Grid Data Can Guide Reporting on Power Disasters [29]
• CAMEO Software Can Help Journalists Cover Chemical Disasters [30]

Backgrounders

• Coastal Flooding Challenges Cities Around the U.S. [31]
• Chemical Safety Board May Have Finally Cleaned Its Slate. What Now? [32]
• Rockets and Bombs and Chemicals — The Environmental Horrors of War [33]
• Climate Resiliency — When a Disaster Becomes a Cascade [34]

Features

• Beyond the Fires and Floods — Comprehensively Covering Disasters [35]
• Chemical Plants, Terrorism and Regulations May Be Back on the Agenda [36]
• Disabilities and Disasters — What Questions Should You Be Asking Planners? [37]
• Storm Warning — How To Prepare for Weather Disaster Reporting [38]
• Reporters Reveal True Toll From Texas Winter Storm, Outages [39]

Inside Story

• Reporters Expose Failed Systems After Hurricane Ian, Maui Fires [40]
• A Town Derailed, a Trust Obtained [41]
• When the Crisis Was Immense, SEJ Award-Winner Went Narrow [42]

Voices of Environmental Justice

• To Cover Climate Equity Well, Journalists Must Maintain Mental Health [43]
• The Community We’ve Long Ignored [44]

EJ InSight

• Can a City on Fire Be Photographed? Yes, Says One Photojournalist [45]
• Capturing the Invisible — Photographing Extreme Heat Waves [46]

WatchDogs

• Wildfire DisInformation Becomes a State Weapon, Aided by AI [47]
• The 9/11 Legacy — Fear Drew Curtain Over Environmental Information [48]
• A Chance To Widen Public Information About Chemical Hazards [49]

BookShelf

• Bringing Personal Perspective to Disaster [50]

SEJ News

• Winter Storm — Reporting Resources From SEJ Publications [51]

Special Report

• Floods, Fires, Dysfunction — Another Year Ahead of Faltering Steps on Environment, Energy [52]

All Disaster Stories From SEJournal [53]     All Disaster Headlines From EJToday [54]

Return to Topics on the Beat main page [55]