Christian Science Monitor

When the Bush Creek East wildfire roared like an engine over the hillside at the edge of his property last August, Karl Bischoff organized three dozen neighbors to fight off the blaze.

Flood walls, levees, and high-powered pumping stations are underway in $298 million project to protect densely populated cities in New Jersey. The projects were envisioned in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, which inundated the area in 2012.

A heat wave grips the Mediterranean as wildfires hit Spain, Switzerland, and Greece – symptoms of a warming globe. Officials have warned residents and tourists to stay indoors during the day’s hottest hours.

In Bangkok, residents of a slum at risk of flooding agreed to relocate because authorities properly engaged communities, but progress is still needed.

As fires ravage California, experts say that, among other measures, communities can reduce their risk by implementing the voluntary Wildland-Urban Interface Code to inform disaster management regulations. But political and public will is still lacking, so repeated interactions and engagements with local experts are needed to ensure adaptation.

US cities situated next to large bodies of water, including Boston, Houston, and Milwaukee, are making plans to build water-absorbent green spaces that also serve as recreational spots – instead of installing more industrial concrete walls – to stem rising floodwaters.

Following the summer wildfires, the Portuguese government promises more than $470 million in aid, including reconstruction of devastated areas. The government has considered gaps in their fire prevention, monitoring and early warning, and is also hiring hundreds of forest sappers to strengthen the country's fire prevention.

SpaceX will launch NASA's Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission to provide new data for tracking and monitoring floods, droughts and other hydrological changes. Currently planned for April 2021, the mission will survey Earth's surface water and scientists hope the data may help give early warning to disasters or spur policy change.