Florida

Hurricane Idalia could become 2023’s costliest climate disaster for the US

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/31/hurricane-idalia-cost-update-category-3-florida-georgia

Analysts estimate the category 3 storm has already racked up a preliminary cost of $9.36bn, straining the insurance industry

Hurricane Idalia could become the costliest climate disaster to hit the US this year, analysts say, with massive implications for insurance and risk management industries.

The category 3 storm that barreled into Florida’s west coast from the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, then carved a path of destruction and flooding through Georgia and the Carolinas, has a preliminary price tag of $9.36bn, based on early estimates, according to risk analysts at UBS.

It follows 15 previous “individual weather and climate disasters” recorded in the US already this year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) as unprecedented heat, wildfires, storms and floods escalate.

Cumulatively, Noaa said that by the end of July, which Nasa said was Earth’s hottest month on record, the total estimated cost of the damage caused by the disasters was $39.7bn. That figure does not include the estimated $5.5bn cost to rebuild the town of Lahaina following devastating wildfires that razed the Hawaii island of Maui this month.

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/31/hurricane-idalia-cost-update-category-3-florida-georgia

Continue ReadingHurricane Idalia could become 2023’s costliest climate disaster for the US

After America’s summer of extreme weather, ‘next year may well be worse’

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18 July 2021 California Wildfires. Image: Felton Davis

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/26/us-summer-extreme-heat-wildfires-climate-crisis

A freakish season of record temperatures, wildfire smoke and the destruction of Lahaina could soon become normal, climate experts say

It’s been a strange, cruel summer in the United States. From the dystopian orange skies above New York to the deadly immolation of a historic coastal town in Hawaii, the waning summer has been a stark demonstration of the escalating climate crisis – with experts warning that worse is to come.

A relentless barrage of extreme weather events, fueled by human-caused global heating, has swept the North American continent this summer, routinely placing a third of the US population under warnings of severe heat and unleashing floods, fire and smoke upon communities, with a record 15 separate disasters causing at least $1bn in damages so far this year.

The heat has been particularly withering in places like Phoenix, Arizona, which had a record 31 consecutive days at temperatures above 110F (43C), while an enormous heatwave across the central swath of the US this week caused schools to be closed in states such as Wisconsin, Colorado and Iowa and food banks to be shut in Nebraska.

While the aftermath of hurricanes continue to affect residents, such as those in Houston, Texas devastated by Hurricane Harvey (see image), research has found that the frequency and intensity of these latest storms have done little to shift public opinion about their connection with global warming. (Photo: Texas Military Department, Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0)
While the aftermath of hurricanes continue to affect residents, such as those in Houston, Texas devastated by Hurricane Harvey (above), research has found that the frequency and intensity of these latest storms have done little to shift public opinion about their connection with global warming. (Photo: Texas Military Department, Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0)

In Miami, which had a record 46 days in a row with a heat index above 100F (37C), there was no respite even in the nearby ocean, with a raging marine heatwave turning the seawater to a temperature more normally seen in hot tubs, raising fears that Florida’s coral reef will be turned to mush.

“It’s been a shocking summer,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA. “We know most of this is happening because of long-term warming of the climate system so it’s not surprising, sadly, but you still get shocked by these extremes. Records are not just being broken, they are being shattered by wide margins.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/26/us-summer-extreme-heat-wildfires-climate-crisis

Continue ReadingAfter America’s summer of extreme weather, ‘next year may well be worse’

UK politics

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Recent UK politics articles and one about abuse in Florida.

“I want to use this election to raise awareness of the imminent danger posed to the NHS by the EU/US trade agreement which will allow American companies to carve up the NHS and make the privatisation process irreversible.

“I also want to alert the public to the gravity of the threat to the NHS from this government with its programme of cuts, hospital closures and privatisation and to send a powerful message to politicians in Westminster and Brussels that people will not stand by and let their NHS be destroyed.

“If elected, I will strive to ensure that EU regulations don’t adversely affect the NHS and are always in the best interests of the health of British people. The health of the nation spans all areas of policy from the environment to the economy”.

 

 

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