CNN —
On a Tuesday morning in August, a memo landed on President Joe Biden’s desk warning of the possibility of a storm hitting Hawaii.
The August 8 memo was part of a daily summary focused on potential extreme weather facing the US based on public data, which the president started receiving from his homeland security team after freezing temperatures gripped Houston in 2021. It warned of high winds hitting Hawaii and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, following their usual protocols, deployed personnel to the state in anticipation of the storm.
Hours later, the islands were dealing with a different crisis: A wildfire. After the fires began,
