Nowhere in America is safe from climate-induced storms and fires

Forecasters had warned for days that Hurricane Helene was likely to cause widespread devastation. But when the powerful storm hit Florida and crossed the eastern US last week, killing more than 180 people and knocking entire communities offline, it still managed to come as a shock.

Florida’s Big Bend, where Helene made landfall, had previously gone decades without a hurricane strike. In the last year or so, three have now been seen. The western half of North Carolina, once considered a haven for the worst effects of climate change, has been crippled by flooding.

In the US, natural disasters are becoming more expensive and more frequent. Global warming is supercharging the atmosphere with more water and energy, fueling increasingly violent weather. Destructive storms, droughts, floods and wildfires crash into communities where millions live, with more expensive homes and goods – and more to lose.

“Nearly 50 percent of the population lives within a few kilometers of the sea, more exposed to hurricanes and with aging infrastructure that is unprepared for today’s climate,” said Mari Tye, a scientist and civil engineer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder , Colorado.

Take North Carolina. The state experienced just one or two billion dollars in disasters — including storms, fires and floods — on average per year from 1980 to 2009. Now the new normal is closer to six or seven, according to inflation-adjusted data from US National. Centers for Environmental Information, which catalogs economic losses from severe weather.

At the same time, North Carolina’s population grew. It has added nearly 400,000 new residents since April 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Those affected by Helene could face weeks without water and power. They are also physically isolated as bridges have collapsed throughout the region leaving people stranded.

“Restoration has been very, very complex because of the extreme nature of the damage in many areas,” Ken Buell, deputy director of the US Department of Energy, said at a news conference Thursday. “In some areas, we’re looking at a quick power system rebuild or an entire community rebuild before power can be restored.”

Many U.S. roads, dams and power grids were designed and built for a world that no longer exists, Tye said, and new construction is struggling to keep up with increasingly frequent and disruptive storms. “You’re designing for what was once a rare event,” Tye said.

The cost of a weather disaster can be difficult to assess immediately. It includes physical damage to infrastructure, homes, businesses and lost crops and livestock, as well as damage to economic activity as a region struggles to recover.

In the US, these losses have risen sharply over the past few decades, even accounting for inflation, as disasters destroy increasingly valuable real estate and other assets. The nation’s median home price has doubled since 2000 and car prices have also risen, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research. Add population growth to that equation, and “it’s so easy to hit billion-dollar impacts these days,” he said.

Hurricane Helene is on track to be one of the costliest U.S. storms on record, with up to $250 billion in damage in at least half a dozen states, according to commercial forecaster AccuWeather. Enki Research’s Watson estimates more direct economic losses to be somewhere between $30 billion and $35 billion. House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that the cash-strapped Federal Emergency Management Agency does not have enough funds to help all of Helene’s victims.

“Congress is going to have to deal with this,” Johnson told Fox News. “I mean, that’s an appropriate role for the federal government.”

One of the largest states in the US is the most vulnerable. Texas has long been the US epicenter of extreme weather. Since 1980, there have been 186 weather disasters that cost $1 billion or more, according to the NCEI. That’s 57 more than Georgia, the next closest state. Texas has also racked up the most extreme weather costs of any state, with damages totaling at least $300 billion since 1980.

This year alone, Texas has already seen back-to-back disasters. Since February, the state’s largest fire ever has burned more than 1 million acres in the Panhandle. In May, a derecho hit skyscraper windows in Houston and storms dumped huge hail. Weeks later, Tropical Storm Alberto closed the Port of Corpus Christi and flooded coastal cities. And in July, Hurricane Beryl arrived, knocking out power to more than 2.5 million Houston homes and businesses for more than a week.

A warming planet caused by increased carbon emissions is a factor causing more destructive weather. On average, the atmosphere holds 7 percent more moisture with each degree of warming, said Deborah Brosnan, a marine and climate scientist in Washington, DC. Ocean warmth has also reached new records over the past year, accelerating evaporation rates and fueling more intense and more frequent precipitation.

“Major hurricanes are now more likely because of the extra fuel they can draw from the warmer oceans,” said Jennifer Francis, senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts. “Their storm surges travel to higher sea levels, wreaking havoc further inland.”

Research suggests that warmer global temperatures mean hurricanes will be able to survive longer on land before dissipating. This increases the chance that inland communities — which are not used to tropical weather and may not heed hurricane advisories — will experience severe wind damage and more rainfall.

A warming planet also means that dry areas can become even drier, adding to fire and drought risks. California saw its fourth-largest wildfire with the Park Fire in July, which burned more than 425,000 acres in the Central Valley region.

And of course the Earth will simply feel hotter as temperatures rise. “The most direct link between climate change and extreme weather is the worsening of heat waves,” Francis said. “As the globe generally warms, heat waves are becoming more intense, widespread and lasting.”

This puts pressure on agriculture, utilities, ecosystems and people, who are all struggling to adapt to new extremes, Francis said. This became evident as the drought spread and power grids failed due to increased demand as people turned to air conditioning to cool down.

Daniel Swain, a climatologist at the University of California Los Angeles, said Hurricane Helene was a stark reminder that “the ceiling on how bad things can get has essentially gone up.”

In Asheville, North Carolina, Helene broke flood records set in 1916 and left at least 57 people dead in the surrounding county. As first responders and government agencies focus on helping Helene’s victims, Swain said it’s important to start discussions about whether other communities are prepared to deal with their own versions of Helene — weather events that are unusually violent but not unprecedented.

“We have to be honest about why things played out the way they did,” Swain said. “Part of that conversation is about the role of climate change, which is not insignificant in cases like this.”

– With assistance from Rachael Dottle, Marie Monteleone and Ari Natter.

Photo: Dan Murphy hugs his co-worker after bringing a canoe to rescue them from their flooded home in Atlanta after Hurricane Helene. Photographer: Megan Varner/Getty Images

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