It's a situation nobody wants to imagine: a major earthquake, flood, fire or other natural disaster strikes while the U.S. is grappling with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. "Severe weather season, flooding — those things don't stop because we're responding to COVID-19," says Joyce Flinn, director of the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Just over a week ago more than 20 tornadoes spun across rural Iowa, damaging apartment buildings and displacing residents. And Flinn's state, like many in the U.S. heartland, is still repairing levees and recovering from unprecedented flooding last year . While a repeat of that event is unlikely, federal forecasters warn that 23 states from the Upper Plains to the Gulf Coast could see major to moderate flooding this spring. Abnormally warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico are fueling concerns about the potential for extreme weather events and a vicious hurricane season. Snowpacks are lower than normal in a number of Western
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