Tropical Storm Debby Hits U.S., Highlighting Climate Denial Consequences

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)