Listen to What the Concerned Scientists Union States: Hurricane Michael Threatened Gulf Coast Homes and Military Bases: Update: Thomson Reuters Foundation Film: Home Beyond the Water
Editor's Note: My husband was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base when he returned from a year in Vietnam. We lived on Okaloosa Island, part of Santa Rosa Island in Florida, now affected by hurricane Michael. Do I believe in global warming? Of course.
Louisiana 'islanders' find a new home beyond the water
Standing in the long grass on the land where he was born, with the sea now lapping just meters away, Chief Albert Naquin remembers Isle de Jean Charles as a wonderful place to grow up.
"It's like night and day — we were totally self-sufficient here. Now you have to go off the island to survive," he said of his community in southeast Louisiana — one that is being dispersed by the encroaching waves of the Gulf of Mexico.
Since the 1950s, the small strip of land - once 11 miles (18 km) by 5 miles (8 km) - has lost 98 percent of its mass, according to the U.S. Land Remote Sensing Program. It is linked to the mainland by a road flanked by water on either side.
The fear is that the "island", as it is known, could wash away in the next big storm.
Hurricane Michael Threatened Gulf Coast Homes and Military Bases
by KRISTY DAHL, CLIMATE SCIENTIST | OCTOBER 9, 2018, 2:21 PM EDT
After a summer of scorching heat waves, deadly wildfires, flooding, flooding, and more flooding, we were weary. Fall’s bitter battle for the Supreme Court brought us not a refreshing crispness, but a renewed sense of the brittle fragility of the bonds that hold our country together.
And now, emotionally wrung out, we’re watching as Hurricane Michael rapidly gains strength on its way toward the Florida Panhandle. Using the most recent storm surge prediction for Michael — released by NOAA at 11 am Eastern today — and property level data provided by Zillow, our preliminary analysis indicates that nearly 50,000 coastal properties are at risk of storm surge inundation, though many more could be affected by flash flooding and heavy rain throughout the southeast.
Three of the region’s critical military installations — Tyndall, and Macdill Air Force Bases and Naval Support Activity Panama City — are also at risk, with 22, 19, and 13 percent of their usable land area predicted to flood from storm surge, respectively, according to our calculations. While only 1 percent of Eglin Air Force Base is predicted to flood with Hurricane Michael, many routine operations on the base have been suspended and the installation’s facilities on Santa Rosa and Okaloosa Islands are particularly at risk. These bases are supported by thousands of military and civilian personnel who will likely be drawn into the response to and recovery from Michael.
So Panhandle residents cannot afford to be weary, as now is the time to heed the warnings of local officials, to make any final preparations ahead of the storm.
But nor can storm-tormented residents of the Carolinas afford to be weary, because recovery efforts from Hurricane Florence in September have barely begun and Michael threatens to bring yet another round of heavy rain. Dozens of roads and bridges in South Carolina are still closed because of the storm. Hundreds of people remain in shelters in North Carolina, and many more are unable to return home. Final data on the extent of Florence’s flooding only became available last week, and I hadn’t even finished my blog post about it before it was time for the next storm.
Puerto Ricans cannot afford to be weary either. Though electricity was restored—it took a full nine months after Hurricane Maria hit in September 2017–homes remain shockingly unlivable, and it’s clear that rebuilding will be a long and difficult process. Beyond the physical and financial difficulty of rebuilding, the ongoing fight for recognition of needs, of lives lost, and of rights, requires an emotional strength beyond that normally required of storm victims. Mental health struggles persist and deepen.