Supplemental General Security & Resilience Highlights – April 18, 2024

The following posts are useful for general awareness of current physical security threats, natural disaster resilience, preparedness resources, mitigation guidance, and other security-related news or updates. These resources have been curated by the WaterISAC analyst team as items of broad relevance and benefit that do not need supplemental analysis at this time.

Natural Hazards/Climate Change

• Potentially damaging frosts and freezes coming to Midwest, Northeast – Accu Weather
• Downpours, flooding risk to return to soggy south-central US – Accu Weather
• Parts of central US hit by severe storms, while tornadoes strike in Kansas and Iowa – AP
• Forecasters expect slow start to U.S. wildfire season – Yale Climate Connections
• Drought, heat raise the risk of a repeat of Canada’s record-breaking wildfires last year – AP
• Australia declares El Nino over in tropical Pacific – Fox Weather
• Federal agencies, communities to map heat inequities in 14 U.S. cities – NOAA
• More states are finding bird flu in cattle. This is what scientists are watching for – NPR
• Information on Bird Flu – CDC

Operational Resilience

• Colorado is latest state to try turning off the electrical grid to prevent wildfires − a complex, technical operation pioneered in California – The Conversation
• Applications Open for DHS FY24 Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grants – DHS
• Predicting water supply and demand: Operating reservoirs using AI – Smart Water Magazine
• The “R” Word – Domestic Preparedness
• Plumbing problem at Glen Canyon Dam brings new threat to Colorado River system – AP
• Ohio River near Pittsburgh reopens to maritime traffic after sunken barge is found – AP
• ‘Water is more valuable than oil’: the corporation cashing in on America’s drought – The Guardian
• Incident Management Measurement Toolkit – RAND
• Maui Fire Department report on deadly wildfire details how it was no match for unprecedented blazes – AP
• As states increasingly look to advanced nuclear, Wyoming, Virginia and Michigan lead the way – Utility Dive
• York County comes together as damaging April storm wreaks havoc on grid – Seacoastonline
• Undersea ‘hybrid warfare’ threatens security of 1bn, Nato commander warns – The Guardian

Extremism/Terrorism

• Former Marine sentenced to 9 years in prison for firebombing California Planned Parenthood clinic – AP
• Isle of Wight Festival terror plot: Teen jailed for seven years – BBC
• Local officials increasingly targeted for threats and harassment, new data shows – NBC News
• 1 killed, several injured when big rig plows into Texas Department of Public Safety office in apparent “intentional” act, officials say – CBS News
• IntelBrief: Incels and the Gaming-Radicalization Nexus – Soufan Center