Climate Change Makes Back-To-Back Hurricanes More Frequent And Stronger, Research Finds.
Princeton scientists have found that the back-to-back hurricanes that used to happen once every few decades could happen every two or three years as the world continues to get hotter. The study looks at not just the storms but the harm frequent hurricanes cause to people. “You can’t imagine. You’re dumbfounded. You think it can’t be happening to us again,” United Way of Southwest Louisiana President Denise Durel told the Associated Press. “The other side of it is that you can’t wish it upon anyone else either.” In 2021, Hurricane Ida’s 150 mph winds hit Louisiana just 15 days before Hurricane Nicholas added more wind, rain and storm surge to the region. The climate scientists used computer models to assess Atlantic storm records beginning in 1949, and found that flood and wind risks posed by storms have steadily increased. A separate report finds that 13.4 million more US properties will likely face destructive winds in the next 30 years, as average annual hurricane-related losses rise to roughly $20 billion. The federal response to hurricanes often deepens racial inequity. Black communities and communities of color–who are often hit the hardest by extreme rain and flooding due to our history of racist housing segregation–are forced to wait longer and are given less government support than white communities to aid in recovery.
(Back-to-back hurricane research: AP, NPR, Hurricanes and property damage: CNN, NPR, CBS News, Verge, Axios, Guide to advancing equity in disasters: NAACP, Inequity in FEMA response: Center for American Progress)
(Climate Signals Background: Intense Hurricane Frequency Increase)
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