(In the Northeast, for example, back-to-back hurricanes Carol and Edna struck in 1954, leading to the construction of storm surge barriers in Stamford, Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island, and New Bedford, Massachusetts, all of which still operate today.) Before the lull in my youth, the 1950s and 1960s were very active, with many catastrophic US landfalls. Some say the Atlantic increase is just the latest swing of a natural cycle. In the North Atlantic, there has been a clear increase from the quiet 1970s and 1980s to a much more active period, on average, since the mid-’90s.
On the other hand, the critical phrase in the above paragraph is “over most of the planet.” The North Atlantic, the basin that matters most by far to the United States in terms of hurricane risk, is the exception. That good-news scenario seems unlikely to me, but it can’t be ruled out. If the number of storms were to decrease fast enough, it could even compensate for the increases in hurricane intensity, so that the total risk would stay flat or decrease. Many models suggest the number will actually go down, but others say it will go up, and we don’t know which is right. And as the planet warms further, we have no confidence in any prediction of what that number will do. On the other hand, over most of the planet, there is no evidence that the total number of hurricanes each year is increasing. And sea-level rise makes coastal flooding from storm surge more destructive.ĭamaged boats are seen downtown after Hurricane Ian caused widespread destruction in Fort Myers, Florida, U.S., September 29, 2022. These trends don’t explain a lot about any individual storm – most of what each one does is still determined by the random vagaries of weather – but in the aggregate, they increase the risk of major disasters such as Fiona and Ian. Scientists are pretty confident that, on average, hurricane winds are getting stronger and rains heavier. What is going on? To what extent were these two recent disastrous storms, or any other particular ones, results of human influence on the climate? Here is my attempt to answer those questions, as briefly as possible while still doing justice to the uncertainties, as well as some insights from the latest, still rapidly evolving science. The stories – if they are any good – are more equivocal about whether there are more hurricanes than in the past. At least 76 people have died in the state because of the storm.Īfter each storm, reporters gather quotes from scientists like me for stories about how global warming is increasing the strength of hurricanes’ winds and rains. The total loss will likely be much higher since most of the losses due to flooding – surely enormous, given the massive storm surges as well as river flooding that Ian produced – are not covered by private insurance. The storm may have caused as much as $47 billion in insured losses in the state, which could make it the costliest storm ever to hit Florida. Fiona took down Puerto Rico’s power grid on September 18 (almost five years to the day after Maria had all but destroyed it) and then much of Nova Scotia’s in Canada, and then Ian, after knocking out power to all of Cuba, made landfall in Florida as a dangerous Category 4, one of the most destructive storms ever to hit the continental US, and decimated a wide swath of the Sunshine State.
We got from June well into September, the typical peak of hurricane season, with only a few weak storms, none doing any real damage.
"Now we've got to see how we can make the other parts of the building safe enough to be occupied while we work on what needs to happen here," explained Jerry Batista.Then, almost nothing happened. On Peace Street, there is a lot more work to be done. "It's a tradition that a lot of people care about," said freshman Jack Budofsky. "The staff arrived here this morning, about 7 o'clock, to find about 20 inches of water in the building," said Rhode Island Department of Revenue spokesman Paul Grimaldi.Īt Brown University, first-year students who just moved into dorms off the Keeney Quad are now drying out after water seeped into their building's first floor.Īll the rain postponed the university's Opening Convocation exercises until Saturday.
#Providence risk of rain drivers
Eighty-five drivers couldn't take their tests at the Melrose Street location because it was closed due to high water. About 100 yards of Interstate 95 flooded.Īll that water tied up traffic again Tuesday - it poured into the Providence DMV office. Monday afternoon, a man caught in a flash flood was rescued from his submerged vehicle by neighbors. The storm hit Providence particularly hard. Neighbors Rescue Man Trapped in Submerged SUV During Flash Flood in Rhode Island
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