We just saw two massive hurricanes devastate the Caribbean and Gulf areas. One hurricane produced more water than any storm ever seen before, while the other produced stronger winds than any hurricane that we have seen before. Hurricane Irma was the strongest hurricane that the Atlantic Ocean ever produced.
What was especially strange is that these storms came back to back. Houston was submerged under several feet of water. During that epic storm, they received 52 inches of rain in some areas - that is 132 centimeters of rain! Many in eastern Texas were forced to evacuate their homes, and unfortunately, many people saw their homes ruined or destroyed by the floods, while costly rebuilding begins for many others.
In Florida, millions of people also evacuated, mostly from eastern Florida. As it turns out, Hurricane Irma went instead to western Florida, and produced some serious flooding. Somewhere between 5-6 million people lost power, and now, the death toll is rising. In Hollywood, Florida, several senior citizens died because there was no power in their nursing home, and thus, no air-conditioning. Let us remember that it is still September in Florida, and still very hot and humid.
Like in Texas, recovery and rebuilding efforts are now underway in Florida. Power has been restored to millions just over the past few days.
Yet, Texas and Florida are two big, high-profile states in the world's wealthiest nation. Other regions that were hit were not so lucky.
There was footage of unbelievable flooding on the streets of Havana, Cuba. Puerto Rico was also hit hard, and with the already existing debt crisis there, this really added to the misery on that island.
Unbelievably, however, it is worse still elsewhere. According to a CNN article about the damage that this superstorm brought to the Caribbean (see link below):
"The Category 5 storm, which ravaged the islands with near-record, sustained 185mph winds, battered an estimated 1.2 million people.
"Irma cut a devastating path, leaving at least 44 people dead in its wake; 11 in the French territories, 10 in Cuba, five in the British Virgin Islands, five in the US Virgin Islands, four in Anguilla, four in St. Maarten, three in Puerto Rico, one in Haiti, and one in Barbuda.
"Anguilla, Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, St. Martin / St. Maarten, the US Virgin Islands, and Turks and Caicos were hardest hit, with up to 99% of structures at least partly damaged."
An estimated 95 percent of Barbuda was destroyed by Hurricane Irma and it's powerful winds.
How bad was it? Look at this:
“The damage is complete,” says Ambassador Ronald Sanders, who has served as Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the U.S. since 2015. “For the first time in 300 years, there’s not a single living person on the island of Barbuda — a civilization that has existed on that island for over 300 years has now been extinguished.
That is not a misprint. For the first time in over three full centuries, there is no one on the island of Barbuda right now. This is the scale of the devastation, according to that same CNN article:
"On Wednesday, the eye of the storm passed directly over the island of Barbuda, leaving the underdeveloped oasis barely habitable. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) said 99% of all buildings in Barbuda had been destroyed. There is no electricity or water service on the island."
You might think that would be enough to convince some American politicians of the seriousness of the threat of climate change, right?
Not so fast.
While President Trump was in Florida, surveying the damage and handing out hoagie sandwiches, he reassured people there about the storm, he was asked about a possible link between these storms and climate change. Was this enough to convince him of the seriousness of climate change?
Not exactly:
"If you go back into the 1930s and the 1940s, and you take a look, we've had storms over the years that have been bigger than this. If you go back into the teens, you'll see storms that were as big or bigger. So we did have two horrific storms, epic storms, but if you go back into the '30s and '40s, and you go back into the teens, you'll see storms that were very similar and even bigger, OK?"
This seemed to contradict what he had stated and tweeted earlier in the week, however:
“We had two massive hurricanes, the likes of which, I guess, our country has never seen,” he said on Wednesday while meeting with members of Congress. “I don’t think they have ever seen. One was the biggest ever in water and the other was the biggest ever in wind.”
Hmm. Trump contradicting himself, and assuming he is more of an expert than the experts on the field. Typical, and neither impressive nor interesting, frankly. Let's move on.
Florida Governor Rick Scott was one of the most fierce opponents to any serious discussion on climate change. He has gone to extraordinary lengths, even by climate change denier standards, as he essentially put a gag order on any mention of climate change by anyone with anything to do with the government in the state of Florida - a move that was emulated by President Trump once he took the oath of office for the White House. In the past, Scott has been unequivocal on his strong opposition to acknowledging climate change. Here is what he said years ago, while running for office:
“I've not been convinced that there's any man-made climate change. Nothing's convinced me that there is.”
Scott added the statement, like so many Republican politicians in particular have added in the past, that he is not a scientist. If this seems like a statement that should frankly disqualify their opinions in the climate change debate, it sure has not turned out that way according to American voters. For proof, look at the stance on climate change taken by the Governor of Texas, or the Governor or Florida, or the President of the United States, for that matter. We already heard what Trump had to say on it, but here is more from Governor Scott, discussing climate change in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma:
“Clearly our environment changes all the time, and whether that’s cycles we’re going through or whether that’s man-made, I wouldn’t be able to tell you which one it is. But I can tell you this: We ought to go solve problems. I know we have beach renourishment issues. I know we have flood-mitigation issues.”
Scott is not getting away with his casual dismissal of climate change so easily these day, however. Finally, some people are beginning to take him to task for his denial, which is probably what we need to see more of all across the board. Here is an excerpt from the Politico article (see link below) used for this particular blog entry:
Scott was also criticized in 2015 after the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting reported that his Department of Environmental Protection banned the use of the terms “climate change” and “global warming.” But Scott denied that he issued such an edict.
Before and after Irma, which first struck the Florida Keys on Sunday, Scott was bashed in a series of opinion pieces in state and national media with headlines like “GOP denies climate change, America pays the price,” “Florida governor has ignored climate change risks, critics say,” “Climate deniers play politics with looming natural disasters,” or “Editorial: Gov. Scott’s Irma leadership undercut by his climate denial.”
Those are the kinds of headlines that climate change deniers need to be relentlessly confronted with. They need to be taken to task for their own all too human made contribution to climate change, all fueled by greed. This is what extreme capitalism and disregard for everything but the almighty dollar is doing. So if that is their stance, let them answer for it. Let them be confronted as the backwards dinosaurs that they are, and let us constantly be reminded that the United States stands alone as the only nation that opted out of the Paris Accord on the grounds that we do not believe in climate change, and that the Republican Party is the only major party in the entire world that rejects the science behind climate change, particularly human involvement in helping to either create or accelerate it.
Frankly, it seems to work. After all, we all know that President Trump, before he ever took office, tweeted that he felt that climate change was one big hoax invented by the Chinese specifically to hurt the American economy. But when Hillary Clinton confronted him with this during one of the presidential debates, he quickly cut her off, and claimed that this was a lie (it wasn't).
Clearly, Trump seemed embarrassed by his own position on this issue when confronted about it directly, when forced to behave to try and defend it. Frankly, I do not think there is any defense anymore, because there is no debate anymore. Not a scientific one, which means that there should not be a political one, either. Facts do matter.
We had one of the biggest mouths on radio, extremist Rush Limbaugh, rail against all of the hype that the media is guilty of in making people paranoid as hurricanes approached, before he turned his tail and ran away, evacuating his wealthy southern Florida home (something that I already wrote about here at some point last week). But he's right back at it, denying climate change and screaming outrage about immigration.
Should we say it's good to see things returning back to normal, then? Or should we force the issue, and let these deniers know that they are not going to get away with this nonsense for too long?
Unfortunately, as a nation, it seems that we just might allow them to get away with it, once again. Despite the historical strengths of these storms, and the level of damage, both in the United States and elsewhere, that these storms produced, there are still apparently plenty of people who are not convinced just yet.
Here are the article that were used in writing this particular blog entry, including the quotes and statistics which were used above:
Trump dismisses climate change question by contradicting himself on hurricanes CNN Digital Expansion 2017 By Dan Merica of CNN , September 14, 2017
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/14/politics/trump-climate-change-hurricanes/index.html
This is the CNN article that I got numerous quote and scales of the damage from, as stated above:
A week after Irma, Caribbean devastation is laid bare By Eliza Mackintosh and Kara Fox, CNN Updated 1:57 PM ET, Thu September 14, 2017
'For first time in 300 years, there’s not a single living person on the island of Barbuda' T.J. Raphael, PRI.org, Sept. 14, 2017:
Trump Hands Out Hoagies and Reassurances in Storm-Battered Florida By EMILY COCHRANE and MARK LANDLERSEPT. 14, 2017:
Florida governor remains unsure about climate change after Hurricane Irma By MARC CAPUTO 09/14/2017:
HURRICANE IRMA UNLEASHES THE FORCES OF PRIVATIZATION IN PUERTO RICO Kate Aronoff, Angel Manuel Soto, Averie Timm September 12 2017
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