CBS News
Renowned scientist’s ashes dropped into eye of Category 5 Hurricane Milton as lasting tribute
As an award-winning scientist, Peter Dodge had made hundreds of flights into the eyes of hurricanes — almost 400. On Tuesday, a crew on a reconnaissance flight into Hurricane Milton helped him make one more, dropping his ashes into the storm as a lasting tribute to the longtime National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration radar specialist and researcher.
“It’s very touching,” Dodge’s sister, Shelley Dodge, said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press. “We knew it was a goal of NOAA to make it happen.”
The ashes were released into the eye of the hurricane Tuesday night, less than 24 hours before Milton made landfall in Siesta Key near Sarasota, Florida. An in-flight observations log, which charts information such as position and wind speed, ended with a reference to Dodge’s 387th — and final — flight.
“He’s loved that aspect of his job,” Shelley Dodge said. “It’s bittersweet. On one hand, a hurricane’s coming and you don’t want that for people. But on the other hand, I really wanted this to happen.”
Sim Aberson / NOAA via AP
Dodge died in March 2023 at age 72 of complications from a fall and a stroke, his sister said.
The Miami resident spent 44 years in federal service. Among his awards were several for technology used to study Hurricane Katrina’s destructive winds in 2005.
He also was part of the crew aboard a reconnaissance flight into Hurricane Hugo in 1989 that experienced severe turbulence and saw one of its four engines catch fire.
“They almost didn’t get out of the eye,” Shelley Dodge said.
Items inside the plane were torn loose and tossed about the cabin. After dumping excess fuel and some heavy instruments to enable the flight to climb further, an inspection found no major damage to the plane and it continued on. The plane eventually exited the storm with no injuries to crew members, according to NOAA.
A degenerative eye disorder eventually prevented Dodge from going on further reconnaissance flights.
Shelley Dodge said NOAA had kept her informed on when her brother’s final mission would occur and she relayed the information to relatives.
“There were various times where they thought all the pieces were going to fall in place but it had to be the right combination, the research flight. All of that had to come together,” she said. “It finally did on the 8th. I didn’t know for sure until they sent me the official printout that showed exactly where it happened in the eye.”
Dodge had advanced expertise in radar technology with a keen interest in tropical cyclones, according to a March 2023 newsletter by NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory announcing his death.
The newsletter said colleagues were “saddened by the sudden and tragic loss of one of its longtime meteorologists,” who died peacefully on March 3.
He collaborated with the National Hurricane Center and Aircraft Operations Center on airborne and land-based radar research. During hurricane aircraft missions, he served as the onboard radar scientist and conducted radar analyses. Later, he became an expert in radar data processing, the newsletter said. He received a Department of Commerce Bronze Medal, two NOAA Administrator Awards and the Army Corp of Engineers Patriotic Civilian Service Award.
Dodge’s ashes were contained in a package. Among the symbols draped on it was the flag of Nepal, where he spent time as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching math and science to high school students before becoming a meteorologist.
Hurricane specialist Michael Lowry shared a photo on social media of the NOAA log noting the ashes were dropped calling it a “beautiful tribute.”
An avid gardener, Dodge also had a fondness for bamboo and participated in the Japanese martial art Aikido, attending a session the weekend before he died.
“He just had an intellectual curiosity that was undaunted, even after he lost his sight,” Shelley Dodge said.
As Florida and the Southeast recover from two major hurricanes, conspiracy theories and falsehoods have surged to levels that the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency says are unprecedented. First responders, local officials and nonprofit organizations in the storm zones have had to dedicate time and resources to debunking false claims.
Officials say these falsehoods have real-world consequences, including preventing victims from evacuating or seeking help, distracting from recovery efforts and making the job of aid workers harder.
And while the scale of misinformation following Helene and Milton took some by surprise, the claims themselves follow a familiar pattern. Similar misinformation has followed other hurricanes and natural disasters, including exaggerated crime reports, fake or misleading visuals and outright scams. Researchers say understanding the misinformation is crucial to mitigating its spread and minimizing its impact.
Here is a look at some of the recurring themes to watch out for:
Unverified crime scares
In the aftermath of Helene, rumors spread online that people were slashing tires of trucks transporting aid to storm victims, a claim that local police said is not true.
Unverified crimes reports have followed storms for decades. After Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of Louisiana in 2005, officials later said claims of looting, murder, and rape, which were repeated by some news media and officials, were either exaggerated or false.
At one point, the Mayor of New Orleans reported multiple murders at the Louisiana Superdome, where thousands sheltered. The National Guard later said there were no homicides at the stadium.
A 2018 report by the Department of Homeland Security found that false claims often spread after disasters because verified information is slow to emerge, fuelling rumor and speculation.
Conspiracies
Jennie King, director of Climate Disinformation Research and Policy at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said conspiracies blaming the government for hurricanes have also become routine. Researchers at the institute found this claim and others debunked by FEMA generated more than 160 million views online after Helene.
“If it is producing a visceral emotion, negative or positive, that should cause you to pause for breath,” King said. “Do a little bit of wider reading. And if you do find out that those claims are false or unsubstantiated, don’t give them additional oxygen.”
Fake or misleading photos or videos
Edited or misleading videos and images have become a regular feature of major weather events. As Hurricane Dorian approached Florida in 2019, old images circulated online that pushed false claims of looting.
After Sandy hit New York and New Jersey in 2013, researchers identified over 10,000 unique posts on Twitter, now called X, that contained fake images.
One of these images was the now-famous “street shark” — an edited image of a shark swimming along a highway — which has reappeared during multiple hurricanes since at least 2011.
Fact checkers also regularly debunk images and videos of landmarks and transportation hubs submerged in water, which can mislead the public during natural disasters.
A digitally altered image of planes under flood waters, created by an artist in an effort to warn about the potential impact of climate change, was falsely described as showing the effects of hurricanes in 2017 and 2018.
And after Hurricane Milton hit Florida, AI-generated images appearing to show flooding at Disney World spread online on multiple platforms.
AI tools have made it easier for people to publish misleading or completely fabricated visuals, according to Anupam Joshi, who co-authored a study on misleading visuals after Hurricane Sandy.
“You need to take everything you see online with a very healthy grain of salt,” said Joshi, the director of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Cybersecurity Institute.
Scams
Scammers often target victims of hurricanes and those wishing to help them. After Hurricane Katrina, scammers impersonated charities including the Red Cross, which was one of the reasons the U.S. Department of Justice established the National Center for Disaster Fraud.
Jun Zhuang, a researcher who studied misinformation online following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, told CBS News that scammers solicit money from victims through fraudulent links.
“‘Hey, if you register to this link, you will get $200.’ Or the other way around, ‘Hey, please donate through this link,’ but you never know where your money is going to,” said Zhuang.
Historically, bad actors also target storm victims with offers of assistance. After Hurricane Sandy, fake “contractors” claimed that FEMA would reimburse survivors for damage assessments and rapid repairs to their homes. One of these scammers defrauded 30 people of about $1.9 million.
To avoid falling victim to scams, FEMA has advised people to be wary of unsolicited messages and to verify charities before donating.
Boeing on Friday said it’s cutting 10% of its workforce, or about 17,000 employees.
In a in a memo Friday, CEO Kelly Ortberg announced the layoffs, writing that the aerospace giant must make “tough decisions” to stay competitive. Ortberg added that the company is also delaying its program to develop the 777X airplane and halting production of the 767 aircraft after it delivers the remaining 767 planes that have been ordered by customers.
The layoffs and production changes come amid a labor dispute at Boeing, with 33,000 machinists going on strike last month after failing to agree on a contract. The aerospace giant’s finances and reputation have also taken a hit this year due to manufacturing problems and multiple federal investigations, following a mid-air panel blowout in January.
“Our business is in a difficult position, and it is hard to overstate the challenges we face together,” said Ortberg in the memo. “Beyond navigating our current environment, restoring our company requires tough decisions and we will have to make structural changes to ensure we can stay competitive and deliver for our customers over the long term.”
Ortberg, the former head of aerospace company Rockwell Collins, joined Boeing as CEO in August, replacing outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun in the wake of increased regulatory scrutiny sparked by production problems at the storied company.
In his Friday memo, Ortberg said the layoffs will include executives, managers and employees, and take place within the “coming months.”
Washington — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign requested military assets to enhance his security in the final weeks of the campaign in the wake of threats to his life, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
In emails to the White House and the Secret Service late last week, the Trump campaign requested that a military aircraft be used to transport the former president before the election, according to the sources. The request also included expanded flight restrictions over Trump’s residences and campaign rallies, as well as the use of ballistic glass — a security measure the former president is already receiving.
The Washington Post first reported the requests Friday.
The development follows two assassination attempts against Trump since July. He was also the target of an alleged murder-for-hire plot involving a Pakistani national with ties to Iran. The country holds the former president and his administration officials responsible for a drone strike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
President Biden seemed receptive to the enhanced campaign security measures on Friday, telling reporters he “told the department to give him every, every single thing he needs.”
“As long as he doesn’t ask for F-15s,” Mr. Biden said at the White House.
He said the Republican presidential nominee should be treated as if “he were a sitting president.”
“If it fits within that category, that’s fine,” he added. “But if it doesn’t, he shouldn’t.”
The enhanced security is a break from precedent. No presidential nominee or former president in recent history has been transported by military plane before an election.
After the second assassination attempt against Trump, Mr. Biden signed a bipartisan bill that bolsters the Secret Service protection for major presidential and vice presidential candidates. The bill requires Secret Service to apply the same standards in determining the number of agents needed to protect the president, vice president and the major candidates for those offices.
In a statement to CBS News, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said Trump “is receiving the highest levels of protection.”
“Assistance from the Department of Defense is regularly provided for the former President’s protection, to include explosive ordnance disposal, canine units, and airlift transportation,” he said. “Other enhancements the Secret Service has is providing includes Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) over the former President’s residence and when he travels. Additionally, the former President is receiving the highest level of technical security assets which include unmanned aerial vehicles, counter unmanned aerial surveillance systems, ballistics and other advanced technology systems.”
Guglielmi said the Secret Service will “continue to adjust and enhance its protective posture as needed to mitigate evolving threats.”
contributed to this report.
