flooding

Recovery and relief efforts continue in southeast Texas. Harsh environmental issues will have to be dealt with in Hurricane Harvey's aftermath. 89.1 WEMU's David Fair and the MLCV's Lisa Wozniak  also explores the Lake Erie Algae Bloom and Nestle's desire to withdraw more water in Osceola County for its bottled water operations. It's all part of the monthly series, "1st Friday Focus on the Environment." 

Several elected officials will update the public and listen to concerns this week on the ongoing 1.4 dioxane contamination plume int he Ann Arbor area. Changes in parking enforcement are under discussion. How can you participate? Find out in this week's "Civic Matters" with WEMU's David Fair and Mary Morgan of the CivCity Initiative. 

Michigan is sending help to West Virginia in the aftermath of deadly flooding in West Virginia.  

Rain Gardens are often beautiful. While they may look similar to a typical residential garden, there are important difference. This week, we take a look at the Washtenaw County Rain Garden, and the coordinator, Susan Bryan to discuss those matters in this weeks Issues of the Environment.

The city of Ann Arbor now has a plan in place to use sharpshooters to cull 100-deer this winter.  In this week's 'Issues of the Environment' WEMU's David Fair Fair talks to Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor about the emotional decision to use lethal methods. Additionally,  they discuss the  environmental impacts of deer overpopulation and the city's environmental agenda, moving forward. 

Wet basements are a problem this time of year. If you don't work to prevent water and moisture from getting in, the bills for remediation escalate quickly. In this week's 'Issues of the Environment',  Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner Evan Pratt offers up some tips for you. 

FEMA approves more than $33 million for flood assistance in less than two weeks

Federal and state officials say their efforts to get Michigan flood victims to apply for assistance are working. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) says more than 40,000 people have applied in less than two weeks.

FEMA has already approved close to $34 million dollars for 18,000 of those applicants.

"We do feel that we're getting the word out," said Erika Lopez, a spokesperson with FEMA's team in Metro Detroit.