Disasters

"Information about potential environmental threats caused by Hurricane Ida have been slow in coming, but initial reports to the Coast Guard's National Response Center and the state Department of Environmental Quality confirm there were releases of crude oil, fuel oils and a variety of chemicals in numerous locations in southeastern Louisiana on the day before and the day of the storm."

"On Sept. 2, an area north of downtown Juneau will hear a loud, discordant siren. Juneau’s power company will be testing a disaster plan for a scenario where the 168-foot Salmon Creek hydroelectric dam fails and floods a largely commercial district near the regional hospital."

"A popular vacation haven normally filled with tens of thousands of summer tourists was clogged with fleeing vehicles Monday after the entire resort city of South Lake Tahoe was ordered to leave as a ferocious wildfire raced toward Lake Tahoe, a sparkling gem on the California-Nevada state line."

"By the time Hurricane Ida made landfall in Port Fourchon, La., on Sunday, it was the poster child for a climate change-driven disaster."

"Hospitals in Southeast Louisiana, already burdened with extremely high numbers of covid patients, took a beating from Hurricane Ida, with roofs ripped off or damaged, leaving water pouring inside and forcing three bayou-country hospitals ravaged by the eye of the storm to evacuate their patients. Patients at a fourth hospital were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard."

"Hurricane Ida was on course to smash ashore in southeastern Louisiana at midday Sunday as a monster with top winds of 155 mph, and pushing a life-threatening storm surge of 16 feet topped by devastating waves.

Two feet of expected rainfall began to dump early Sunday along the coast, with the first sprays reaching nearly empty New Orleans streets before dawn.

"Choices about building rules, insurance programs, flood maps and more put residents at higher risk, according to climate and disaster experts."

"Populations in areas of the United States at high risk for climate disasters are growing, according to an analysis done by real estate listing service Redfin."

"2020 saw unprecedented global sea levels and the highest annual increase in concentrations of methane, a potent greenhouse gas".