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The year 2020 has seen record-breaking weather, as well as weather-related catastrophes. Combining this with the coronavirus pandemic equals a threat multiplier for the United States that could become an unbearable load.
In the US, hurricane after hurricane is breaking records this year, and there are currently four potential hurricanes brewing in the wings. The updated storm outlook for this year predicts as many as 25 named storms and six major hurricanes, which is more than double the 1981-2010 historical averages.
Current costs associated with the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season as of August 31 are close to $6 billion, according to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.
The west has seen over 10,000 dry lightning strikes started over 500 fires blazing at once that burned over a million acres. A derecho with 140 mph winds wiped out over forty percent of corn and soybean crops, CNN reports.
In the United States as a whole, currently active fires have burned 2,172,991 acres as of August 31, and a grand total of 39,829 fires for the year have burned 3,980,809 acres, according to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.
California alone saw 7,175 fires with almost 600 fires burning currently which have burned over 1,666,332 acres. At least 3180 structures have been damaged and destroyed and 7 fatalities as of August 31
The US military has a phrase it coined called “threat multiplier” to refer to the way in which climate change can increase instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world, presenting national security challenges for the United States.
However, now the idea of a “threat multiplier” applies to the United States itself, as America battles multiple weather events amid a coronavirus pandemic it is trying to gain control of.
America is likely facing billions of dollars in damages due to natural weather disasters, at the same time Congress is doling out trillions of dollars for coronavirus relief funding.
The same thing is happening on the state level. With the disastrous fires in California, the state has lacked the manpower to fight them due to coronavirus. In more normal times, California would use nonviolent convicts as extra firefighting manpower.
But due to COVID-19, the state’s governor furloughed those inmates in an attempt to reduce the spread of the virus.
As local and federal agencies become spread thinner and thinner, as well as does funding, it may be time for Americans to start considering all the ways in which they can be prepared as much as possible on their own in case water, food, power, and gasoline become short in supply or unavailable. What if the weather disaster blocks your access to these things?
It may be time for Americans to make their own preparations for the worst that can happen during and after weather disasters.
Some of the things Americans might want to do are:
