Tropical Storm Oscar disintegrated Tuesday and its remnants headed toward the Bahamas. It had earlier made landfall in Cuba as a Category 1 hurricane, killing at least six people.
Tropical Storm Oscar brought heavy rains and winds to Cuba, an island already beleaguered by a massive power outage, late Sunday after brushing the Bahamas.
Higher utility bills. Rising home insurance costs. Damage from floods, wildfires and hurricanes. Climate change is hitting Americans’ bank accounts, and older adults are particularly at risk.
Monstrous hurricanes Helene and Milton caused so much complex havoc that damages are still being added up, but experts in economics, insurance and risk say they are likely to be in the pantheon of super-costly $50 billion disasters. That would put them in the company of storms like Katrina, Sandy and Harvey. Making those costs even more painful is that most of that damage, particularly in Helene's case, was not insured. Several experts say damages are skyrocketing because people are building in harm's way, reconstruction costs are soaring faster than inflation and human-caused climate change is making storms stronger and wetter.
The area has not taken a direct hit from a hurricane in over 100 years. But its topography and dense population make it especially susceptible to severe damage from storm surges.
The election and Atlantic hurricane seasons are overlapping with dramatic effect, and not for the first time. Here's what we can learn from other storms that shaped elections, from Katrina to Maria.
Researchers found that Hurricane Helene was stronger, rainier, and significantly more likely because of climate change. The U.S. can expect more such storms in the future as warming continues.
The death toll reported from an average tropical cyclone is 24. But the true toll is maybe 300 times higher—and the losses stretch for years after the storm passes.
