Causes.com
| 8.5.24
Tropical Storm Debby Hits U.S., Highlighting Climate Denial Consequences
Are you concerned about climate change’s impact on hurricane season?
What’s the story?
- Tropical Storm Debby, downgraded from a hurricane, is moving over the southern East Coast, increasing concerns about flooding and power outages across the region.
- Debby made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday morning on Florida’s coastline. The National Hurricane Center warned that the storm could bring historic rainfall to Savannah, Georgia, Charleston, South Carolina, and other low-lying areas.
- Debby is the fourth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. Seventeen to 25 storms are expected before the end of the season in late fall.
Storm preparations
- Ahead of the storm, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called upon 3,000 National Guard troops to aid the state and placed most cities and counties under emergency orders. Evacuation orders were set on parts of the Gulf Coast counties, including Pasco, Hernando, and Citrus. DeSantis said that the constructed flood control devices are being placed at utility stations for the first time, in hopes of minimizing the risk of power disruptions from the flooding.
- Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has made emergency proclamations for his state as well. The White House, meanwhile, has the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “pre-positioning” resources, including food and water.
- Debby is expected to take a similar path to 2022’s Hurricane Ian, which killed 103 people in Florida and caused billions of dollars in damage.
- Between 10 to 20 inches of rain are expected to fall, with storm surges up to 7 feet. Director of the National Hurricane Center, Michael Brennan, said on a Sunday briefing:
“There’s some really amazing rainfall totals being forecast, and amazing in a bad way. That would be record-breaking rainfall associated with a tropical cyclone for both the states of Georgia and South Carolina if we got up to the 30in level.”
Climate consequences
- As expected by climate experts, climate change is producing more powerful, intense storms that generate heavier rainfall and flooding. Hurricanes, along with droughts, wildfires, and more, are becoming more destructive as the human-caused climate crisis settles in, creating a new normal for natural disasters worldwide.
- While the consequences of climate change are being felt globally, a recent study done by the Center for American Progress found that out of all U.S. Senators and Representatives, nearly a quarter of them are climate change deniers—100 in the House and 23 in the Senate. The climate deniers, all of whom are a part of the Republican party, claim that they either believe climate change is not real, that it is not caused by humans, that climate science isn’t widely agreed upon, or that global warming is beneficial. In 2021, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said in an interview:
“We’ve had freezing periods in the 1970s. They said it was going to be a new cooling period. And now it gets warmer and gets colder, and that’s called Mother Nature. But the idea that hurricanes or wildfires were caused in just the last few years is just a fallacy.”
- The report expresses how climate deniers disproportionately represent the American public in government, as a recent Michigan study found that nearly 15% of Americans deny climate change today. While many wish this number was lower, most Americans are “alarmed” or “concerned” about climate change and hope to see more action to mitigate its effects within the government.
Are you concerned about climate change’s impact on hurricane season?
-Jamie Epstein
(Photo Credit: Flickr/NOAA Satellites)
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3 states (FL, GA, SC) have declared a state of emergency, warning residents of the possibility of significant flooding due to tropical storm Debby becoming a hurricane, and requested FEMA assistance.
NOAA forecasts more hurricanes that are more severe with significant damage due to air and water temperatures that are not only higher than average but setting record highs for 13 consecutive months.
-2X as many hurricanes
-2X as many named hurricanes (more severe)
-2X as many major hurricanes (significant damage)
Yet Project 2025 plans to get rid of NOAA that tracks and forecasts storms, wants FEMA delegated to states, and will increase fossil fuel use increasing temperature more.
"Forecasters expect Tropical Storm Debby, a major weather system churning in the Gulf of Mexico, to reach hurricane-strength over the weekend before making landfall in Florida Monday morning."
"The National Hurricane Center says Debby could unleash catastrophic conditions in Florida as well as in parts of Georgia and South Carolina later in the week, dropping potentially record-breaking rainfall amounts in those two states."
"Florida could see six to 12 inches of rain, with isolated amounts as high as 18 inches, and coastal areas in Georgia and South Carolina could be hit even harder. Brennan said communities near Savannah and Charleston could see between 10 and 20 inches of widespread rainfall, with isolated totals as high as 30 inches in some areas."
"That would be record-breaking rainfall associated with a tropical cyclone for both the states of Georgia and South Carolina if we got up to the 30-inch level,” he noted."
"Warmer ocean temperatures and higher sea levels driven by climate change are making hurricanes and tropical storms more intense, causing heavier rainfall and more extreme flooding."
" NOAA predicts a very high likelihood (85% chance) of an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season, with 17-25 named storms (average is 14), 8-13 hurricanes (average is 7), and 4-7 major hurricanes (average is 3)"
https://www.gpb.org/news/2024/08/04/florida-prepares-for-the-arrival-of-strengthening-tropical-storm-debby
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/how-does-noaa-see-2024-atlantic-hurricane-season-shaping
Am I supposed to be concerned about DeSantis Land and the people who voted him in?
Am I supposed to even care about the area that voted MTG in?
I care as little for them, as they do me.
Go talk to India, China and Russia about climate first! They are killing the planet
welcome to the '' fuck around, and find out '' part of the climate disaster.
governments inaction has lead us here, and its too late to hault the worse effects.
this should amomg the worlds top priorities- but the capitalist system won't correct itself, and will let you, your children, and the planet die before it relingishes its strangle hold on humanity.
WHO WOULD NOT BE?????
Most non-discussed topic;
HAARP and The Large Hadron Collider
In other words; The entities in power over our weather will create and cause terrible weather just to prove their point of "climate change" initiatives and unwritten law such as the original carbon tax.
Most hated words of the day;
"consumption" and "climate change"
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This is what I do… https://www.cashdaily9.com
These increasingly dire consequences of climate change are wrecking havoc with peoples lives and the environment. I want to see real action on the part of our government to lower carbon admissions and climate change seriously.
I get paid over $40 per hour working from home with 2 kids at home. I never thought I'd be able to do it but my best friend earns over 10k a month doing this and she convinced me to try. The potential with this is endless. Heres what I've been doing..
check https://paybuzz108.pages.dev
This is just yet another example of how climate change NEEDS to be addressed. We need aggressive policies combatting the damage we've done because we're already seeing consequences that are only going to get worse.
Anyone who's not blinded by partisanship or remarkable stupidity (often the same thing) should be worried about man-made climate change and its effects on extreme weather of all kinds.
Not only do these idiots not believe scientists, but they refuse to believe their own eyes.
"🌧️ Are you concerned about climate change’s impact on hurricane season?"
Let me think:
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
We already have —
🥵🫠💨💨💨🎐🌪️🌪️🌪️🌨️🎐🌀🌀🌀🌨️🌬️🥵🫠💨💨🥵🥵
in words – Friggin' CLIMATE CHAOS!
SO, YES! 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨
#VoteBlue
The billionaires behind big pollution should be stripped of their wealth, their companies, their freedoms, and their legacies to pay for natural disasters.
I am worried about climate change - period!! Whether it is during tornado season in Oklahoma where I live or hurricane season or wild fire season or blizzard season in the north!! We are altering our global environment by continuing to depend on fossil fuels. We must reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and move to alternative sources of energy!! It is my hope that the Harris/Walz administration will be able to continue to move us in the direction that president Biden has us moving. I hope the number of climate deniers will be reduced in this election cycle and we can move in a more environmentally responsible direction!!
You'd have to be a damn fool to not be concerned about the increases in the strength, frequency, and destructiveness of not just hurricanes, but all weather related storms-floods, tornados, wildfires, etc., etc. We have all been warned over and over the destruction that climate change will bring-well it's here and it's only going to get worse if we don't take immediate global actions to turn this around. Even with concerted actions on a global scale, we can expect to dxperience the destructive forces of this for the long haul as turning this ship around is not going to be immediate, but not making the effort will result in total disaster of a scale that we've never seen before.
Every day there are news articles dealing with "once in a lifetime" exents that are happening on a regular basis! If it's so rare, why is it happening so often. We are dealing with excessive heat, fires, floods, early (and massive) storms and winter storms along with glaciers melting, not being replaced as we see the overall world and water tempurtures going up. There is a massive sientific conclusion that we, as humans, are complicit in the changes the earth is undergoing so it would seem to make sense that we do whatever we can to correct, or at least slow down, these changes. We may not live long enough to see the effects of us sticking our heads in the sand but our kids, and their kids, will need a livable planet to surrvive. What is the worst that could happen if we start to do whatever we can to stop climate change - we get a better world for all! Back in the 70's we all came together to stop the use of CFC's and repair the ozone layer and it's worked. It's not that it can't be done, it just requires a firm comittment to protecting the future for everyone.
The entire world is in danger of head-in-the-sand right wing stupidty.
Of course, I'm worried.
This storm will cause a lot of costly damage and probably kill some people.
But I'm not just concerned about this storm.
I'm worried about the future. Storms will get much worse. And more numerous as the ocean waters get hotter and hotter!
At the end of last month (July 2024), the Earth experienced the 3 Hottest Days in Human History...
Over the last 12 Consecutive Months--Every Single Month was More Than 1.5 Degrees Celsius Hotter Than the Pre-Industrial Global Average Temperature.
That is TERRIBLE!
The risk that Global Heating and the Climate Crisis will become a Climate Catastrophe is much greater now.
But we are still increasing our Greenhouse Gas Emissions and building even more Fossil Fuel Infrastructure--More Extraction, More Transportation, More Refining and More Combustion.
An awful lot of people will die because of this!
Dear God, What will it take to persuade the deniers that maybe, just maybe, there is a human connection; and even if there isn't, there are positive economic responses to an ever unfolding crisis.