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Appalachian Hurricane Flooding Intensified by Climate Change

We have all seen the news coverage of the horrific flooding caused by Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina, a small city often touted as protected from the effects of climate change. The truth is that Appalachia, including West Virginia, is not immune from the effects of the warming climate. When heavy rainfall occurs, it has nowhere to drain except through mountain valleys where people live, and infrastructure is built.

Rainfall is a welcome part of life, but our natural and man-made capacity to cope with it is under serious pressure. Our coping capacity has developed over centuries in response to far less intense rain patterns than we are now experiencing. And it will get worse before it gets better.

According to NASA, the frequency of Atlantic hurricanes making U.S. landfall has not increased since 1900. However, beginning in the 1980s hurricane activity has been greater in the North Atlantic — more storms, stronger hurricanes, and an increase in hurricanes that rapidly intensify. Those storms that do make landfall pack a greater punch than before and have the capacity to cause greater loss of life and property damage. The most damaging U.S. hurricanes are three times more frequent than 100 years ago.

And now another powerful storm — Hurricane Milton — is forming in the Gulf.  As of this writing, Milton is an historically powerful Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of at least 175 mph, currently positioned in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico.

The science behind this is clear. Warmer oceans mean greater evaporation. Warmer air holds more of this water than cooler air. For every 1-degree Fahrenheit of warming, the atmosphere can hold about 4% more moisture. When other conditions are right, all this leads to massive storms. Milton has undergone extremely rapid intensification because of historic warm Gulf water temperatures.

As we have seen, hurricanes don’t just result in coastal flooding. Inland flooding from hurricanes is a huge risk. Those of us living in the Appalachian mountains are in the bullseye. When storms sweep inland and encounter mountains heavy rainfall occurs because of the “upslope effect.” More moisture is squeezed out of the atmosphere than over flat terrain.

Over 225 people have died from Hurricane Helene as of October 7 and no price can be put on this terrible loss. But inland flooding in the U.S. caused $230 billion in property damage from 1988 to 2021. Over one-third of that is attributable to precipitation changes due to climate change. A minimum damage estimate from Hurricane Helene is $20 billion, and Moody’s Analytics puts the figure as high as $34 billion. Many of the residents in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee have no federal flood insurance.

Donations to assist the Hurricane Helene flooding victims in the Southeast can be made at https://cfwnc.org/.

In West Virginia we’re in for more of this chaos. Climate change cannot be reversed on a dime, but we contribute heavily to the problem by burning coal in our power plants and this can be changed.

We can also begin to address the serious job of resiliency. In 2023, the West Virginia Legislature unanimously passed SB 672, which created the Flood Resiliency Trust Fund to prioritize nature-based flood protection and prevention for low-income areas. But the Legislature hasn’t put any money into the Trust Fund, even though Governor Justice’s 2024 budget proposed $50 million for it.

The sooner money gets into this Fund, the safer our homes and communities will be from the effects of climate change. Our Legislature needs to hear from us. Tell your Senator or Delegate to take some action on the Flood Resiliency Trust Fund without further delay.