Natural Disasters

As Sandy's Tab Comes Due, It's Time to Rethink Flood Insurance Everywhere (Including Dallas)

Two experts from the Monterrey Institute of International Studies have an op-ed piece in The New York Times this morning advocating the abandonment of the National Flood Insurance Program, which is about to stick us taxpayers for $57 billion in rebuilding costs from Hurricane Sandy. If the experts w ... More >>

You Can't Handle the Truth

Not if you're willing to listen Paul Ryan and his cronies, that is.

The Lies Keep Rollin' on the Trinity River Toll Road

While I was away on vacation The Dallas Morning News published an editorial saying Angela Hunt, Scott Griggs and Sandy Greyson, our three brainiacs on the City Council, are stupid, don't know how to add and came up with all the wrong conclusions about the News' favorite project, the idea of building ... More >>

State Farm Wants To Insure Johnson County, Texas, Against Frack-Water Induced Quakes

Like a good neighbor, State Farm wants to insure Johnson County homeowners against fracking-related earthquake damage. Cleburne, aka Lil' San Andreas, has experienced a string of quakes this summer. Which is weird because, before 2008, the area had absolutely zero history of seismic activity. State ... More >>

For the So-Cal Taco Truck, Feeding Tornado Victims Was a Lot Harder Than Expected

Tuesday evening, after tornadoes struck the metroplex, Scott Wooley, owner of the So-Cal Taco food truck, immediately started devising a plan to help the victims and relief workers. It's all part of his gratuitous spirit, which is partly a result of his fight with cancer several years ago. He's free ... More >>

Images from Forney Suggest How Much Worse Tuesday's Storms Might Have Been

Dallas photographer Danny Fulgencio rolled out early this morning to capture images from the aftermath of the tornado in Forney. "I started shooting at around 7 a.m., just after the curfew lifted," he tells Unfair Park. "These shots document the swath of destruction from yesterday's tornado which ... More >>

Trinity Levees: Will the Feds' Money Crunch Leave Us Low and Wet?

​Am I in the happy-news business? Does a bear use air freshener in the woods? Look, I'm just bringing it to you like it is. As bad as the situation with the Trinity River levees may look locally, you should see what it looks like when you put it in perspective with national levee problems. We ... More >>

Mooney River: Once Again, D Magazine Misses the Trinity River Toll Road Story

​Hey, I was out of town last week when the August issue of D hit the streets -- well, given the magazine's target demo, perhaps we should say it hit the winding lanes and parkways -- with an essay titled "Let's Ditch the Trinity River Toll Road." Wow. Pretty remarkable. From the time of the ... More >>

National Weather Service Has Upped the Number of Tornadoes in the Area Last Week

Courtesy the National Weather Service​'Round this very moment exactly one week ago today we were all preparing to duck and cover beneath Kirstie Alley as hailstones the size of calf fries began forming in the skies above North Texas. Turns out, the weather was even worse than we thought the mornin ... More >>

Yet Another Reminder of the Tornado of 1957

Courtesy the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Photo Library​From time to time over the years we've revisited the tornado of 1957, which, at the time, was easily the best-documented twister in history. There's even a whole website devoted to the F3 that killed 10 and "carved a sixt ... More >>

Sit Inside the Eye

More Party Ideas for Those Who Can't Make It to the French Quarter

Please don't eat the baby.​ Yesterday we posted a list of Fat Tuesday happenings around town, and now we've got a few more events worth mentioning. If you haven't decided where you're going to indulge in a Cajun feast or down hurricanes and shots, here are a few more suggestions for where to ... More >>

10 Cheap Party Spots for Fat Tuesday

​ You don't need an excuse to party tomorrow night because it's Fat Tuesday, the official holiday of fatty foods, booze and general debauchery. Restaurants and bars are offering some cheap food and drink deals, but unfortunately many of them are amping up their Fat Tuesday festivities with c ... More >>

Why's Leppert So Pissed Off at the Corps of Engineers? Because He Can't Handle the Truth.

​O.K., I've been laughing up my sleeve over the mayor's whining remarks last week, complaining that certain unnamed "federal partners" aren't being very nice to him. Hanging around City hall last week for various dumb events, I was able to chat up a couple of people who are keeping quite close ta ... More >>

"Public Safety and Flood Control Always Come First," Except When They Don't

​Earlier this morning, those among Mayor Tom Leppert's nearly 2,000 friends on Facebook were treated to a link to the city's Web site where they could find an official response to a recent story in The Dallas Morning News about the Trinity River Corridor Project. Turns out the statement is an ... More >>

Fido Vs. The Flood

Premium Content: While We Argue Over a Word, a Risk Still Runs Through the City

George Gimarc sent us this photo. Taken in April 1957.​Got a little e-mail debate going with Frank Librio, the spokesman for the city of Dallas, which I thought I should share with the Friends of Unfair Park. Always good to get a second opinion. Maybe people will agree with Frank that I have been ... More >>

SMU, UT Researchers Think They've Found Cause of North Texas Quakes

Courtesy SMUSeismologist Brian Stump installing equipment to find the cause of the quakes near DFW Airport​SMU just sent word: Its seismologists, Brian Stump and Chris Hayward, joined by researchers from the University of Texas, have found evidence that could very well link those North Texas earth ... More >>

Comfort in Time of Grief for Local Haitians

Kimberly ThorpeChristelle Joseph, born in Haiti and now living in Irving, hasn't been able to reach her family in Haiti since last week's earthquake​Haitians living in the Dallas area came together last night to grieve for a country wrecked by last week's earthquakes (and this week's aftershocks) ... More >>

Why the Trinity River Project Could Be a Windfall for the Lawyer Who Sues the Army Corps of Engineers

Wherein Jim's Just Begging to Have His Invite to the Bridging the Trinity Party Rescinded

All photos by Jim SchutzeDown at the Margaret Hunt Hill construction site, where, we hope, nobody's in that Porta-John​I had other work to do this morning, but Robert was right: I couldn't stay away from Old Man River. A bit after noon I ventured down to the site of the Calatrava suspension bridge ... More >>

What the Frack?

This morning's Wall Street Journal investigates the cause of the 18 earthquakes that have rattled the Dallas-Fort Worth area since 2008 -- from just east of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport down to Cleburne most recently -- and concludes, well, ya know, not really sure. Because on the one han ... More >>

Pretty Sure I Saw the Dallas Tornado Play the Cleburne Quake at Cobb Stadium Once

Brian Stump, the Albritton Professor of Geological Sciences in SMU's Dedman College and part of the team set to study the recent Cleburne quakes, wants you to calm the eff down. Seriously. It's all right. Nothing to worry about. It's nature, for God's sakes. Right, Prof. Stump?The recent earthquakes ... More >>

Would somebody just tell Mayor Leppert? His Trinity River toll road doesn’t have a prayer.

A Killer F5 Tornado Rips Through Dallas County -- How Ready Are We for this Nightmare Scenario?

Getting to No | Eat Less Live Longer

Is the Army Corps of Engineers Having Second Thoughts About the Trinity River Project?

Looks Like It's Not, Um, 3 Doors Down's Time? (Sorry, That Was Too Easy)

"State of Disaster": Dallas's Emergency Planners Do Not Like Ike

You Dropped a Bomb on Me, Gustav.

Gustav Isn't Screwing Around, and Neither is the City of Dallas

It’s Okay, Relax, Nothing to See – or Feel – Here

A Flood of Questions

When the Levee Breaks|God's Gyroplane|White Mavs Can't Jump

Hunt for Truth

Council member Angela Hunt rips open the Trinity project

More Bad Medicine

When Evacuees Become Residents, Part 2

Millions for Thousands

When Evacuees Become Residents

Bad Medicine

Why Houston Hates Dallas

Laissez les bon temps rouler

Buzz looks for love in all the wrong places

Long Road Home

Edge of Relief

Clear Channel wins our good graces (for once) by spearheading local hurricane relief efforts

Dang, some good news

Generosity warms Buzz's cold heart

Mogwai

Happy Songs for Happy People (Matador)

Bad-ass Storm In A Glass

Category 5, Hurricane Grill New Orleans Oyster Bar

Hurricane Warning

There's more to like about the Hurricane Grill than just the 45-ounce hurricanes

All wet

Supporters call the Trinity Plan a flood-control project. It isn't.

Flood money

The Trinity River Plan's billion-dollar vision of levees, parks, and ponds has Mayor Ron Kirk--and most of Dallas--spellbound. But engineers warn it could lead to a flooding catastrophe and destroy the same poor neighborhoods it's designed to help.