Asheville thought it was invincible. Its geography, surrounded by lush mountains and far from the Gulf of Mexico shoreline has protected the city from natural disasters for decades. Some media dubbed the city a “climate haven” and suggested Asheville may experience a steep increase in population due to climate migration.
Hurricane Helene shattered Asheville’s reputation as a climate refuge and the damage is incomprehensible, instantly changing lives. Asheville became a graveyard of homes and trees. The city’s roadways transformed into dangerous rivers, carrying debris and prompting concerns over a dam failure.
Helene’s wrath killed more than 200 citizens, the second-most in 50 years after Hurricane Katrina.
Helene and another rainstorm soaked the Southeast with an unprecedented 40 trillion gallons of rainfall. The Associated Press reported that the amount could fill AT&T Stadium 51,000 times. Four weeks since landfall, 95 percent of Asheville’s water remains unsafe to drink.
Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Milton slammed into Siesta Key, 60 miles south of Tampa Bay as a Category 3 storm, ravaging both Floridian coasts. Before the storm made landfall, 41 tornadoes spun throughout southern Florida. The outbreak caused 126 tornado warnings, he second-highest for a state in U.S. history. The high winds caused power outages for over 3 million Floridians.
Tropicana Field, home to Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays and a station for first responders, suffered heavy structural damage. Milton’s hurricane-force winds ripped the fabric roof, which now lies on the baseball diamond in shreds.
Like in Asheville, residents and employers saw unthinkable devastation. According to WFLA, a local NBC affiliate, Pinellas County recorded 40,000 homes destroyed in the aftermath of Milton.
Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton remind us that climate change is everywhere, even in places perceived to be safe geographically. No person, industry or location will be immune to the effects of climate change; the very definition of an existential crisis.
Hurricane Helene made landfall on Sept. 26 in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4, surprising several North Carolinians with its strength. Hurricanes usually devastate the coastlines, not places like far inland Asheville.
Soon after, Hurricane Milton formed in the Gulf of Mexico. Milton, with a strange eastward trajectory, explosively intensified into a Category 5 within 24 hours of becoming a tropical storm. The pressure at the eye of the storm read below 900 millibars, leaving meteorologists baffled.
There is a considerable link between major hurricanes and climate change. Intense storms occur three times more often now compared to 100 years ago.
While a temporary shift to La Niña — a natural cooling pattern of the Pacific — weakens wind shear which hampers hurricane development, the temperatures are also caused in part by the ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses. Studies show that the ocean absorbs 93 percent of the heat produced by greenhouse gasses. Warm waters feed hurricanes’ energy. It so happens the Gulf currently has record-high temperatures.
Helene and Milton are not isolated environmental catastrophes. A recent study showed that 2024 had the hottest summer on record, surpassing last year’s by 0.03°C.
It should be obvious that survivors want aid and reassurance after a devastating storm. Instead, the Republican Party served demeaning content and conspiracies during relief efforts, halting progress. Arguing against climate change’s existence and promoting lies about relief alienates the American people and shows the faction doesn’t care about our planet or their voters.
Former President Donald Trump and his allies continue to push baseless claims about President Joe Biden’s relief efforts. They falsely accused FEMA of directing aid for natural disasters toward Ukraine instead. Not only is Trump’s tirade inaccurate, his previous natural disaster efforts sparked controversy and outrage.
During a press conference before Hurricane Dorian’s landfall in 2019, Trump extended the storm’s track on a large map with a Sharpie toward Alabama. The National Hurricane Center quickly dismissed Trump’s addition to the forecast. In 2017, Trump hurled paper towels at Hurricane Maria victims in Puerto Rico.
Previous Trump staffers told E&E News the former president refused to provide aid for Democratic states in an act of vengeance.
Kevin Carroll, the former senior counselor to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said: “Trump absolutely didn’t want to give aid to California or Puerto Rico purely for partisan politics – because they didn’t vote for him.”
Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene spread other outlandish conspiracies on X (formerly Twitter) after Hurricane Helene, implying that an undetermined “they” can control weather systems.
There are two theories which this can refer to. Greene might have attempted to link Democrats to the storm, claiming election interference. Or, Greene sustained her antisemitic vitriol, suggesting Jews secretly influence the weather – which is not too dissimilar from her “Jewish space laser” comments after California wildfires.
No matter the angle, this type of nonsense from an elected official is unacceptable.
More frustrating is that these Republicans are so close to understanding the problem. Humans are causing the rapid intensification of hurricanes. Not for electoral purposes, but for power and financial assets.
The Republican Party encourages the ravenous fossil fuel barons who make the biggest imprint on natural disasters.
This is why we must demand climate action.
In the wake of the twin hurricanes’ devastation, Congress must make climate policy a priority. While small daily actions may add up, substantial legislation is necessary for key climate goals.
As the election inches closer, we must elect officials keen to enact climate action and regulate greedy corporations to mitigate the effects of storms like Helene and Milton. Earth is sending us a warning. It’s time to wake up and vote for our planet.
