Laura's victims show how their homes were 2:41
Editor's Note:
Liz Williams Russell is the director of programmatic and grant-making activities for the Climate Justice portfolio at the Foundation for Louisiana, a statewide social justice philanthropic intermediary investing in, building and supporting a movement Louisiana-based for Climate Justice.
The opinions expressed in this comment are those of the author.
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(CNN) -
When Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana in 2005, it had been 40 years since New Orleans had suffered a major hurricane.
In the 15 years since then, our state has witnessed seven major weather disasters and even more nameless storms - every municipality in the state has been under a federal emergency declaration in recent memory.
Katrina would become one of the most devastating storms in US history. Now, as we pause in the memory of the lives lost and forever changed as a result of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which hit the state just a month later, Louisiana has again been devastated by a major storm.
Its impacts are compounded by the ongoing pandemic, which has already impacted our communities and disrupted many of our lives.
Hurricane Laura rushed toward our coast on August 27 with winds of approximately 150 miles per hour.
Since 2005, we have seen storms intensify in shorter periods of time, bringing in water faster than the thresholds around which our communities have been designed.
Hurricane Laura took just two days to strengthen from a tropical storm to a catastrophic Category 4 in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
In fact, this year's ocean temperatures have been among the warmest on record, and it is this telltale sign of climate change that helped create the conditions for Laura to become one of the most powerful storms to ever make landfall in our country.
With the lack of institutional responses that focus on racial, gender and economic equity, disasters disproportionately affect vulnerable communities.
Our government's responses must focus on underserved residents, while state and local leaders must take steps to reduce risk by improving development standards or restricting new construction in high-risk areas.
MIRA: USA: 360,000 people, without electricity after the passage of Hurricane Laura
The phrase "100-year storm" is becoming less relevant as extreme weather events become more and more common.
For years, scientists have predicted that warmer oceans will make storms more frequent and intense.
This is terrible news for our coastal communities, which are already being hit by rising sea levels and storms that leave a trail of damage that lasts long after making landfall.
The growing population of coastal communities and the continued loss of land have only exacerbated this trend.
As reports of destruction continue to come in from Louisiana and Texas communities after Hurricane Laura (more than a dozen storm-related deaths have been reported and hundreds of thousands are without power), I can't help but think about the phrases used. to describe this storm: "insurmountable" storm surge, sustained winds of 150 miles per hour (with gusts of nearly 290), and catastrophic loss of life.
While the worst seems to have been avoided this time, the hurricane season is far from over.
Meteorologists and local leaders are trying to warn us of the unimaginable as we face extraordinary threats to our homes and livelihoods.
Unfortunately, we know that the communities most affected by each disaster - our rural, poor and underserved populations - will also be the hardest hit by this storm.
Let's take steps to prioritize your recovery as we rebuild.
Climate change poses an existential threat and we must do everything we can to reduce and curb emissions.
While global carbon emissions decreased as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, we must take the necessary steps to proactively reduce them in the future.
Louisiana has one of the highest per capita emissions in the country and the state is home to a large number of facilities in the petrochemical, oil and gas sector.
Even now, vulnerable facilities and communities located there face the combined impacts of toxic emissions in the midst of a natural disaster.
To address these issues, Governor John Bel Edwards said he would focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions during his second term, and recently launched a task force to help devise a strategy to meet this goal.
We must ensure that their recommendations are effective and actionable, while focusing impacts on black and indigenous communities, as well as the LGBTQ community and other underserved low-income and color communities.
MIRA: Latinos seek to recover economically from the damage caused by Laura
As our focus shifts from responding to rebuilding in the devastated parts of our state, we must integrate practices that mitigate rather than worsen existing disparities, based on a commitment to all of our people.
After Katrina, we spent billions on recovery and rebuilding.
While we did many things right and learned difficult lessons that many others around the world have yet to face, we also missed opportunities to create positive and sustainable change for our region.
Communities with sufficient resources can finance preventive infrastructure and adapt to change more easily.
Moving forward, we must ensure that government funding and resources are used to create local jobs and business opportunities for those in need as we rebuild and protect these vulnerable communities from future risks.
Relevant workforce development training and procurement practices that encourage local small businesses and involve the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program in the recovery process could enable greater long-term resilience.
As Governor Edwards and his team move from immediate disaster response to distributing recovery dollars, we must ensure we do a better job of investing in the front-line leadership of our community organizations and a more just future. and vibrant for our coastal communities.
In addition to coordinating watershed and regional resources, we need to have a coherent strategy to address systems of inequality.
We cannot ignore our residents in rural communities or our residents living in poverty.
At a time when the US faces hundreds of active wildfires, devastating storms, record temperatures and a global pandemic, investing in climate justice is more critical than ever.
With the right resources, most people can cope with and adapt to crisis situations, whether they are pandemics or natural disasters, acute or chronic calamities.
Our communities are resilient, but we must provide proactive recovery and equitable access to help people both in emergencies and on a day-to-day basis.
This is a transformative moment in our history.
We must invest in leadership to achieve the long-term structural change required for this generational challenge.
The future of humanity depends on it.
Hurricane Laura
