Some Presidents cross lines. This one not only crosses them he draws his own made up ones.
16
Guess the Chinese hoax - climate change - extends to faking the destruction of the Bahamas and inundation of the Carolinas. Clever fellows, the Chinese. They didn’t even use a sharpie.
11
History will blame my current governor and his illustrious family for their part in preventing action when it would have saved us:
“In his report Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change, Nathaniel Rich wrote that in November 1989 Sununu prevented the signing of a 67-nation commitment to freeze carbon dioxide emissions, with a reduction of 20 percent by 2005, and singled him out as a force starting coordinated efforts to bewilder the public on the topic of global warming and changing it from an urgent, nonpartisan and unimpeachable issue to a political one.[10]”
31
A new book out, Geography of Risk, tallies a $750 billion price tag from our last two decades of coastal "natural disasters" (i.e., man-made climate change exacerbated) and warns we can't continue down this bankrupting path. We have some very hard choices to make -- and the longer we delay by re-electing Republican officials who deny deny deny, the worse the human and financial cost...and the fewer choices we'll have.
Climate change is out of the bottle; the feedback loops will make it exponentially worse over time. If we act now, damage and suffering can be mitigated. Vote all D in 2020.
Nytimes, thanks for this excellent ongoing coverage. It’s really appreciated.
4
I’m just glad my mother in-law didn’t evacuate to our home AGAIN. There’s not enough wine in the world for that.
10
News about extreme weather events which were exacerbated by climate change like Dorian should include information about how climate change intensified the event.
Because the message isn't getting through, even among those who understand that climate change entails risks, many don't realize what a threat to humanity climate change poses.
The carbon cycle for the last 2 million years was doing 180-280ppm atmospheric CO2 over 10,000 years and we’ve done more change than that in 100 years.
The last time CO2 went from 180-280ppm global temperature increased by around 5 degrees C and sea level rose 130 meters.
Here’s a graph of the last 400,000 years of global temperature, CO2 and sea level http://www.ces.fau.edu/nasa/images/impacts/slr-co2-temp-400000yrs.jpg
The change now is much faster than anything we've seen in the paleoclimate record and I'm worried that ecosystems won't be about to adapt to the rate of change.
3
Never mind all of that...has Debra Messing been fired yet? Priorities
4
When was the last time that we had an American President illegally distorting a National Weather Map to serve a political purpose in the midst of a national weather disaster? 18 U.S. Code 2074 says an official can go to jail 90 days for falsifying such disaster warnings. What fun it must be for the sycophantic toadies that work for Trump and are constantly trying to clean up the messes this profoundly ignorant narcissist is making.
13
Good luck to everybody in its path. We are thinking of you from the other side of the world and deeply empathise with you regarding this awful calamity. It is comforting that you have a tremendously strong and powerful commander in chief that you can rely on to co=ordinate information in a timely and accurate manner. Let's hope he doesn't try to nuke the thing. Sincerely though I hope everybody gets through this as well as possible. We all need to be proactive about climate change and stop going into denial about it though. You get tornadoes in SE USA we get rampant bush fires here.
God bless you with heartfelt sympathy on this terrible day.
5
Is trump passing out paper towels yet, they have a desperate need in Alabama.
8
You can bet that FEMA money is going to go to build Trumpelstilskin’s wall to stop the fake crisis, just like DoD money. And you’ll hear an endless stream of science denial from him and his propaganda machine. But here’s the real crisis, and he won’t do anything about it!
1
Well. To paraphrase the 911 operator's advice given to a woman trapped in her car in an Arkansas flash flood before she drowned, "All y'all put yourselves in danger. Maybe this will be a lesson to you for next time." Climate change is real. Deal with it.
4
I know a hurricane is not a laughing matter, but still, I could not help laughing out loud when I imagined the reactions of Trump and his followers if NYT would have edited the weather maps to their liking with a sharpie :)
No, it's not a laughing matter. At the same time, that scene with Trump in the oval office, trying to prove he was not wrong with the help of a clumsily falsified map, would have been hilarious in any sitcom.
6
I haven't seen much coverage of the devastation & destruction in Alabama from the storm.
3
None of this comes close to touching Alabama. What we've learned in the last five days is that Donald Trump doesn't know the map of the United States.
4
My sympathies for those who are in the immediate path of Dorian, and of course those in the Bahamas who were hit so hard!
Also, just looking at that enormous storm system making its way up North, I couldn't help but wonder just how well we here in New York are prepared for Dorian or the inevitable next major storm that will hit us. Dorian seems to follow the Gulf Stream going North, and the stream's warmer waters are likely continuing to feed it. So, on this occasion: how well are we prepared for such a hurricane, several years after Sandy? @NYTimes: Might be a good question to ask Mayor De Blasio and Governor Cuomo! I have my doubts about our readiness, and hope we won't have to find out.
1
My sympathies for those who are in the immediate path of Dorian, and of course those in the Bahamas who were hit so hard!
Also, just looking at that enormous storm system making its way up North, I couldn't help but wonder just how well we here in New York are prepared for Dorian or the inevitable next major storm that will hit us. Dorian seems to follow the Gulf Stream going North, and the stream's warmer waters are likely continuing to feed it. So, on this occasion: how well are we prepared for such a hurricane, several years after Sandy? @NYTimes: Might be a good question to ask Mayor De Blasio and Governor Cuomo! I have my doubts about our readiness, and hope we won't have to find out.
2
Sure hope the US government has sufficient funds in FEMA to respond to this hurricane. You all do remember that Trump moved funding for such emergencies so he would have funds to build a wall that most people understand is useless and for which Mexico will not pay--a real national emergency
6
No matter how many storms hit us, now matter how severe they become,no matter how many people die, no matter how many billions are spent to rebuild, the climate change deniers will never give in and start to focus on solving the problem. Trump is changing laws to allow more carbon, not less, into the atmosphere. The small steps that the Obama administration began to make are all being reversed. There is only one solution. The 2020 election is our last chance to reverse this horrid trend. I am old enough so I will die before the worst of the results come to fruition. Anyone who is under the age of 40 who doesn't do everything in their power to toss out these head in the sand threats to humanity in DC will suffer unimaginable living conditions if these people are allowed to run this world into the ditch.
7
While there is concern with the impact of the storm on the Carolina coast, it is clear that this situation is nothing like what has occurred in the Bahamas. Why does the U.S. news drop major environmental horrors (Bahamas, Amazon fires, fires in West Africa, etc.) when a downgraded storm that will not have devastating impacts touches our shores. I overheard a comment that was sadly met with agreement just yesterday -- "if it doesn't happen in America (meaning the U.S.) -- why should we care"? Add this to the list of the sad place where this country is right now.
7
Not sure why these mega storms keep happening when we've tried literally nothing to mitigate the affects of climate change.
10
Where are the architects, planners and philanthropists who could finally design and build some reasonably priced housing for people in developing countries; housing that could withstand these storms? The building techniques in places like the Bahamas are terrible and not fit to withstand the types of periodic storms that ,historically, the Bahamians have been forced to endure. For decades these needs have not been met. Now and in the near future the demand for safe housing will only increase and yet we do nothing to plan for this eventuality, just as we do little to mitigate the effects of climate change.
3
@David Lawrence--It is a matter of the storm surge coupled with the elevation of the islands in the Bahamas that is a real problem. It happens along the coast and it isn't just in developing countries.
2
Shouldn't the headline be that Donald Trump was right about the near miss in Alabama and that the Weather Service was wrong and is clearly out to get him and will now be defunded and ordered onto AG Barr's hit list of Trump enemies, along with the FBI? Priorities, people!
71
You have got to be kidding . Those of this mindset must stop drinking the koolaid and avoid all news reporting where potus obsessively demands a opinion on everything in the 24 hour news cycle.
3
@Virginia
I’m just waiting for Trump to accuse the news media of reporting that the storm was due to hit Florida only because they were hoping it would hit Mar-a-Lago!
4
@Virginia. Hey Ginnie - how was that tornado on the Cape?
Thank goodness, that Topeka Kansas is no longer in the path of Hurricane Dorian.
Many many people, did not know that.
74
@John Doe
Amen. May the safety and the progeny of the Kansans ever increase.
However, on a psychotic note, never one to admit an error, our confused president continues to misread and alter meterological maps in the hope of convincing Dorian to make a pass over some corner of Alabama or other. (Point of personal pride and/or delusion.)
Trump’s not allowed to drive on the public roadways or to operate heavy machinery, is he?
9
@Tom W
Many many people think that's it's very very tremendously great, that Dorian has diverted from Topeka and Alabama and Wyoming.
Many many people were worried that Geraldo Rivera might get hurt, standing on the shore line in Topeka.
Sharpies Forever!
President CrossFire Hurricane
2
If any of those states on the East Coast are running out of sandbags, call Alabama. I understand they have a surplus.
80
News Flash:
Red coastal states completely surprised and caught off guard by the unprecedented extreme intensity and flooding of hurricane Dorian after four decades of warnings and predictions of the impact of global heating and climate crisis.
Interviews on the street indicate that a significant segment of the population believe the laws of nature do not apply in their states.
Science 101:
A warmer atmosphere has a larger moisture carrying capacity.
A warmer ocean has a higher evaporation rate.
A higher CO2 concentration causes warming of the atmosphere and the ocean.
All of the above generates extreme weather events.
278
Not all Blue candidates will do much.
Biden wouldn’t want to even try for change.
That’s how we got here. And why we are dooming our grandchildren to die horrible deaths. Not Blue no matter who. Biden and Obama supported the takeover of fracking and huge oil pipelines!
13
@Manderine
We are not all red, ignorant, science phobic. We flipped the first district. I agree, turnout next year is crucial.
28
@oldBassGuy.
Follow-up on what you wrote. A calorie measures the heat needed to raise one gram of water one degree Celsius. To raise a gram of water from 99 degrees to 100 (boiling point) takes 540 calories. Turning water vapor to water RELEASES 540 calories of energy PER GRAM. In other words lightening and violent winds. Just to put things in perspective.
1
Trump's next Tweet:
"The world is flat. Thus the rising seas will spill over its sides, so we don't really have to worry about coastal areas."
93
@AD
Well, people ARE saying that , aren't they?
2
Please decline Taxpayer dollars for the rescue and rebuilding efforts.
This is a hoax. Ask Koch brothers and your local GOP congressmen.
34
@Max - "...and your local GOP congressmen."
In Seattle?
From the article:
"In the Bahamas, homes were turned to matchsticks"
Well, that's true - except for the ones that were not. Long term, we need to be concerned about global warming issues; but in the short term, we need to be concerned about building codes, and sensible land use.
Both issues are real issues, and both must be acted upon. Do nothing, and we will all be living in the incredible world wide shanty known as "Trump Town". That's one lease I never want to take out.
20
@Peter Zenger
Building codes?
Trump needs to be tried and imprisioned for life, legally but quickly. Just like Madoff.
Prayers and thoughts for Alabama -but let’s donate and help the people In the Bahamas and Puerto Rico who still need our help.
4
We’re gonna have the biggest storms, the best storms. We’ll have such great storms that you won’t believe it. Under the Democrats we were not winning with storms. But if you give me a second term, I promise you I’d do everything I can to make America number one in storms.
368
@Nima
We now have Category 5 storms, which no one ever heard of before. Obama never got past a 4, and he was too afraid to nuke them. Many people are talking about it.
124
@Nima
We're are going to build the biggest seawall, the best seawall. Neptune is going to pay for it.
32
@Nima good one.
7
Doesn't everyone know that climate change is not the problem- it is God's revenge on a sinful nation.
4
Best wishes to all whose lives are being lashed and flooded. These storms are massive, and global warming is making them worse.
Has trump demanded that South Carolina be renamed Alabama yet?
1
@John. There is absolutely no proof that global warming makes them worse. FYI - they now call it climate because temps haven’t risen.
Not long ago the consensus science was that business-as-usual (BAU) energy policy would likely risk at most a meter of sea level rise by 2100.
But at the recent acceleration of ice sheet mass loss of 44Gt/y2 (78cm SLR by 2100), combined with thermal expansion and mountain glaciers (20-30cm SLR), we’re already on pace for a meter by 2100.
In 2016 a paper by Pollard and DeConto incorporated mechanisms into a numerical ice sheet model: hydrofracturing of buttressing ice shelves and Marine Ice Cliff Instability.
The model indicated that sea level rise over the next 100 years could be several meters under BAU.
But as DeConto said, to be conservative they set an arbitrary speed limit based on observations at Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland. That glacier has an observed calving rate up to 13km/year, so they told their model not to exceed 5km/year, less than half the observed rate at Jakobshavn.
Now Jakobshavn Glacier is 50km up a narrow fjord, is 5km wide, and has a marine-terminating ice cliff 100m high.
By contrast, Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica fronts the ocean where there are very strong winds and currents, is 120km wide, and when it backs up it is going to try to make marine-terminating ice cliffs higher than El Capitan (1000m).
So we don’t have an upper end as to how fast sea level could rise when Thwaites Glacier collapses, raising sea level globally averaged around 3.3 meters.
3
The only good in this is the good of neighbor helping neighbor - and now the growing awareness that climate change needs to be addressed if humanity will continue by living in accordance with the dynamics of the earth and the forces of nature.
2
The one thing people used to be able to talk about without getting into an argument was the weather. In the age of Trump, not anymore.
3
Amazing that what is happening to the US, with the hurricane 70 miles offshore, means we were "lucky".
There are a WHOLE lot of complicated issues that need to be addressed.
Along with prayer and support for the Bahamas, and still Puerto Rico and others.
Such terrible destruction, yet in the most savaged areas—sectors where 185mph winds raged for hours—many roofs remain on; albeit nearly all being holed. Probably, it is this holing that saved them, providing an escape route for the mighty high velocity winds trying to lift them off—much as does a vent in the top of a sunshade umbrella. Another factor, possibly, is that in the eye of the hurricane there is hardly any wind at all, giving respite ahead of and after the wall of the storm moves on.
1
The fact that Trump was able to see a storm path that didn’t exist shows that he is on some pretty powerful drugs or extremely tired from playing golf all day Saturday at his private golf course before he returned to Camp David.
I would have said mind altering drugs but that would mean he has a mind and we all know that’s not true.
He must have got this map from the same people that told him Mexico’s going to pay for the wall and China’s going to suffer the costs of the Tariffs.
3
Dem candidate Marianne Williamson credits the superior mental faculties of the Floridians for turning Dorian away from their state. Take note! Next time work the woo woo!
It is madness to have a home or business built right on the beach. It is madness to live on an island as well.
Why can't the media operate in a "pool" for events like this? . Save helicopter space for responders, evacuees, et al.
1
Blame it on climate change, the new buzzword.
I bet the US declares war on that next.
1
@skater242
The Pentagon has described climate change as a "threat multiplier" because it makes many things worse for humans.
1
Well, intelligent people in the US have tried to fight it. But our current admin is happy enough to offer thoughts and prayers while it burns and drowns.
2
Why shouldn’t we?
1
Deploring the catastrophic damages and human losses, but hoping that renitent politicians and voters finally understand natures message that climate change is hitting your home and that we all have to unite to reduce its impact. Solidarity instead of short term greed is needed. In Europe, we face the same climatic degradation. Irresponsible politicians and business-crooks can destroy our climate. Voters can change that.
62
@Rudi Scientific findings show that violent storms have been a factor on earth for 100s of millions of years, by far most never recorded or even witnessed by human beings; indeed raged 100s of millions of years before humans ever set foot on the planet. What you're witnessing today is a weather hiccup on a grand scale, greatly magnified in the mind of man by the availability of sophisticated weather coverage: TV, Internet, social media, cell phone camera, computerized aircraft that fly through the core of a storm as an every day event etc. etc.
3
We really shouldn’t be trying to compare today climate with that from the time of the dinosaurs, take a look over the last few thousand years. This is not just a hiccup, and anyone who thinks it is, is just deceiving themselves.
10
@Stanley Jones
I expect the insurance companies would disagree with you.
Also, just a few weeks ago it was revealed that core samples had been taken from somewhere in the Artic and the scientists were shocked that numerous samples had plastic pieces in them ?!
Wonder if the dinosaurs were eating twinkies wrapped in plastic back then or might we pesky humans have filled our skies so full of plastic and OTHER STUFF that we get to take credit for it after all?
Let's get real and realize we cannot continue to fill our environment with smoke, chemicals, and all these pollutants in the ground, air and sea and expect that we are not contributing a HUGE amount and possibly driving all the negative changes we see.
So, as lit-tle' people, what we can do right now is to stop consumption of all this junk and demand more from our businesses and leaders and, for God's sake, stop trying to deny the obvious. We have to make some changes!
3
Hurricanes come frequently with a lot of wind and rain, and also tornadoes. We saw this in South Florida when Hurricane Irma passed for here.
My family in coastal N.C. are getting the tornadoes.
I had to have some construction work done on my house this year.
Several of the workers spoke in foreign languages.
I can't tell you whether they were illegal aliens, but I was happy to have them.
5
America is such a young country - it hasn’t learned to respect the planet.
In places where civilization has been for thousands of years, and after millenniums of earthquakes and volcanoes, they don’t rebuild on the exact same spot where Mother Nature has flattened a city.
But our Federal Reserve will eagerly print all the money we need to keep re-building where the hurricanes land.
2
@Only 62. Um, I don’t think the Fed gets involved when we have hurricanes.
so much about Dorian's incredible destruction (in the Bahamas) with terrible loss of lives and horrendous flooding and devastation of houses etc.
No talk about hurricane-restistent house building (construction with e.g. concrete, stone, elevated houses) that is necessary in hurricane alley. With more ever violent Superstorms likely in the future, measures must be taken to find new solutions to building and living in the hurricane-prone areas.
1
Climate change is real and better get used to storms of this intensity in the future.
3
@Rob Brown. Robby, climate has always changed. Tell us why Alaska used to be tropical. Tell us what ended the last ice age.
1
Stop subsidizing these locations with my tax dollars.
2
Who do you think is safe from climate change? Hurricanes, tornados, floods, fires, droughts, earthquakes!
The photos from the Bahamas are unreal. Houses completely wiped from foundations, and palm trees that have been there for decades ripped from the ground.
Palm trees evolved specifically to survive tropical hurricanes. To see that level of destruction is just terrifying. It’s even worse to realize that this is the new norm.
Category 5 storms in back to back to back years is not sustainable. Climate change isn’t just some kind of abstract future guess. It’s real. It’s happening now. And it’s a threat to the survival of billions of people around the world.
44
@Austin Ouellette. Such drama. Apparently it is sustainable since we’re still here.
1
@Jackson
So far. It is sustainable until it is not. One should not trivialise the suffering of others. Austin's concerns are justified. I would make a rejoinder to you that might consist of: "such vacuity".
6
@Jackson
You have no idea of the rapidly accelerating (in unexpected directions) and irreversible changes we will have to adapt to in the very near future, thanks to all the climate modifiers already 'in the pipeline' so to speak. We were given several decades to prepare, in the form of 'climate change lag time'. That lag time is getting progressively shorter and when it no longer exists, we will start to understand our predicament much more clearly.
3
The hurricane Hazel, mentioned in this article, came all the way to Northern Virginia, to our farm. It blew over a huge oak tree, I remember. I was 16 at the time, will never forget it.
6
I grew up in Westchester, NY about a mile from the shores of the Long Island Sound. Thanks to development most living there would rarely see or go to the shore. There are private houses everywhere protecting there privacy with tall hedges. There is zero or very limited parking in the area to keep the area nice and exclusive. Let's think of these weather events as an opportunity to get back our country's shorelines. No building within .5 or .x miles of the shoreline. Even the people that live on the shore now would have access to much more shoreline. Are there places that limit shore development on the East Coast? How did the East develop so differently from the West? Is it a pipe dream to think Americans can consistently vote against development for the long term?
32
@Brendan G
One thing California has that much of the East Coast doesn’t is guaranteed access to the water even in highly-developed areas like Malibu.
Seems like ocean access in Massachusetts and RI is restricted to the local property owners unless you pay to go to a public beach.
1
@EGD. So those in Malibu let you go through their property?
@Jackson -- I doubt one can do that. Up to the water line belongs to the owner.
Notice this is now also happening in parts of Florida.
How can Chris Dixon choose to live in a slowly drowning port city? Why does he endure the annual stress of possibly losing everything? Could it be that when, for instance, Hurricane Irma swept through his house, the beleaguered National Flood Insurance Program compensated Mr Dixon for his losses?
Why should taxpayers enable the overwrought romanticism of living precariously by the ocean? For subsistence fisherman toiling in Bangladesh the ocean is their families’ life. For a US journalist, really?
33
Your points are well taken. My elevated house is indeed under NFIP. They don’t however, cover me at garage/ground level - which is where the damage was. So my repairs were out of pocket. It’s an older house built when flood risks weren’t as well known - the area didn’t flood during Hugo. Would we choose differently today? Perhaps. Is NFIP responsible for all manner of woe and bad building decisions? No doubt.
4
In 2016 NASA's former lead climate scientist James Hansen published a paper titled Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms. He noted that in the last interglacial period, at temperatures barely above today, there's evidence of superstorms unlike any we have today that moved boulders 10 times the size that current storms move.
Apparently if the weakening AMOC were to shut down, perhaps later this century, the increased horizontal temperature gradient between high and low latitude regions of the N Atlantic would drive these storms and "all hell would break loose in regions around the N Atlantic."
7
Cant wait to see all those red state bootstrappers who look with scorn on those who seek welfare support from the nanny state rushing to demand that the nanny state come in and rebuild all their homes — again, just as they do after every hurricane blows through. When it’s other people getting government help, its a “handout” to the lazy and undeserving; when its them its an entitlement. It probably looks like i have little sympathy for red state climate deniers...yep.
66
We stayed. Mostly because our last evacuation, 3? 4? years ago completely terrified our cats, and we lost power at our inland hotel. Never at our house. We vowed not to ever leave again. I now have a little generator that will power my breathing machine overnight, we have oil lamps and candles. Most important, we have calm cats. You all don’t pay for us to live here. Our flood insurance will never come into play. We will never be able to make the kind of homeowner insurance claim most of you might feel free to make. Our insurance is almost 3 times our taxes. We can’t afford for it to go higher, so we will make no claim absent catastrophic damage. This storm does not come even close. Yes, we are surrounded by water, but the city opens the garages, so our truck is safe, and we also have power, and I repeat that our cats are calm. Why do government services have to be labeled as socialism? We agree to pay tax for services we regard as essential.
46
You have a generator that will work for 1 day for your breathing machine, but what happens when your power goes out for a week, and you can’t get at your vehicle because the roads are flooded? Or have debris blocking them? I know. Emergency responders will have to risk life and limb to get you and your precious cats out. So much smart prep in the post with an attitude that is very selfish in end.
13
@Jean I have seen people evacuating with carfuls of cats and dogs crawling all over them.
In Orlando when Charley hit, pets fled into the woods and took days to come back. It was as if they blamed the neighborhood for the weather.
2
@Jean: Thanks, Jean, for giving this sensible explanation of why you stayed. It was quite helpful to balance your decision and thought processes with what one might otherwise associate with people who stay----and party right on the beach. Your comments really opened my eyes to those who clearly are not trying to "mooch" off the government but rather are being resourceful.
Sincerely hope that things in Charleston clear off soon and that you had no damage.
8
You know, if only we levied confiscatory carbon taxes on the people and turned our lives over to collectivist ‘progressives,’ hurricanes would be so much more benign.
#galveston1900
1
Yeah! Far better that we heavily subsidize oil and gas companies and real estate developers, and live in hovels that get dinged up by Trump throwing paper towels from the top of the dark tower.
Make America Grim Again!!
6
May God aka Mother Nature help protect and save the people of South Carolina.
My black African American enslaved and free- person of color American ancestors lived and died there from the American Revolution where they were owned by and bred or lived with or near my white European American ancestors.
3
I'd like to propose a new Cat-5 storm-naming convention, the following to be used in rotation. Jump in with your suggestions!
Exxon
Koch
Trump
Denier
NewNormal
CleanCoal
Bolsonaro
...
90
The amoral Donald Trump, and the current toadie he has promoted to 'Acting Secretary of Homeland Security', Kevin K. McAleenan. are diverting our taxpayer paid FEMA funds to build Trump's ridiculous 'Xenophobic Vanity Wall'.
This 'climate change denier' golfs, fiddles and tweets, while the world burns, while stealing budgeted funds, meant to help storm wrecked citizens, so that he can erect his garbage projects. Vote against this Trump madness in 2020!
48
I wonder how many people heeded President Trump’s advice to leave Alabama and headed for safer grounds in the Carolinas.
52
Trump's Sharpie-doctored map depicting the projected path of Hurricane Dorian should prove immeasurably helpful to residents throughout the Southeast as they deal with flooding, high winds, storm surge and torrential rain. SO comforting to know the president has the backs of residents who are suffering.
14
Thank you for putting the Carolinas at the top of your news list. We appreciate i.
5
All well and good provided you can afford the repairs or have private insurance.
But Federal flood insurance should only pay out one time per property. Take the money and move, or carry the risk yourself.
23
I hope the the numerous cruise companies who make a fortune off the Bahamas are pitching in to help them.
32
@Freshginger FROM Norwegian Cruise Line
Destination Updates
Our hearts are with those impacted by Hurricane Dorian. On Sept. 5, Norwegian Breakaway will depart Miami with hurricane relief supplies donated by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and its employees, in addition to items collected by the City of Miami, Baptist Health South Florida, the 305 Gives Back foundation, and other Miami-based organizations, to be delivered to Nassau, Great Harbor Cay, the company’s private island Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas. We will also be relaunching Hope Starts Here, our parent company’s hurricane relief campaign in partnership with All Hands and Hearts, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has pledged a minimum commitment of $1 million toward immediate short-term relief for those affected by Hurricane Dorian.
3
Add that eight foot storm surge to oceans that are 2" higher because of global warming and you can see that rising oceans are a major problem.
9
Pounding the Carolinas? Nothing like the Bahamas. We're fine.
3
Climate warming on earth has passed the point of no return. Today we're witnessing Hurricane Dorion, the new climate-change kind of hurricane. Proof positive that humankind can't return our planet to any kind of sustainability. Homes and livelihoods won't be restored in flood zones of our southeast coast, middle-west, and the forest fire zones in our far west. Warming seas and earth are dooming us all,
Meanwhile president Trump is altering reality in our Oval Office, displaying his Sharpie-doctored NOAA meteorological map of predicted Hurricane Dorion on 29 Aug. Still trying to prove he was correct about a "hard hit" on Alabama from the Cat 5 hurricane! Isn't that rampant insanity in our White House?
15
“Today, we’re struggling with 3 millimeters [0.1 inch] per year [of sea level rise],” says Robert DeConto at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, co-author of one of the more sobering new studies. “We’re talking about centimeters per year. That’s really tough. At that point your engineering can’t keep up; you’re down to demolition and rebuilding.”
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/abrupt_sea_level_rise_realistic_greenland_antarctica/2990/
4
...i am so tired of mean.
Bahamians and their love of community and helping each other are a tonic today, even given the incomprehensible destruction they've endured.
...can we take in some of that and find ourselves again?
12
What about gradually abandoning the barrier islands all along the East Coast back to nature, in future to be used only for recreation and as natural reserves (no overnighting or permanent structures)? The islands would form natural defenses to storms and could adapt to changing climate conditions without upending homeowners and businesses in the process.
46
@David
Great idea. Seriously.
In the interest of additional environmental recovery, we should also permit the North Sea to reclaim vast areas of land that have been tamed in Europe through a destructive system of dykes and dams.
In addition, the Rhine should be deindustrialized and the wetlands at its mouth restored.
8
@David Never understood why people want to live on the barrier islands and why governments let them.
3
Somebody from California should tend to their own knitting, said knitting being little things like the LA River and the Sacramento River Delta.
By the way, ever look at any new housing development near anyplace that might flood, or any new city park where the city’s near a river? Darndest thing...they all have a big area that looks good, can be used for recreation, and doubles as a flood basin.
This also just in: that goes triple for the Netherlands, a country that’s writing the book on rational development near flooding. Want to guess what one of their major moves is?
2
I've had my fill of human interest stories about plucky residents riding out the storm. Yet they will be the first to look for emergency evac by boat or helicopter. And the first to re-build. What insurance company keeps underwriting home policies for these people?
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@Foosinando
Uh, the same companies who wrote policies for everyone affected by Sandy along the Jersey and NY shores?
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@Foosinando Many of them will also vote for republicans that don't care about their plight and will not even acknowledge the fact that climate change exists and is partly responsible for more damaging storms.
7
@Foosinando
FEMA. Taxpayers are the insurance company for individuals living in areas effected by tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, fire... and we keep writing the checks instead of demanding that residents are self insured or suffer the loss. Until we demand accountability, people will rebuild in areas that are vulnerable to mother nature's wrath.
35
"It sounds cliché, but when your entire life comes to revolve around the ocean, it becomes almost impossible to imagine living any other way." I was born and raised in Southern California, lived there more than 50 years with the last 43 years in Oceanside and San Diego. I loved the ocean and spent most of my life living by and playing in the ocean. But sometimes you must move on to new places with no ocean. It's really not that hard once you realize that for economic and environmental reasons, you can no longer afford to live by the sea. And, guess what? New Mexico is a wonderful place, albeit with it's own climate change issues like drought and scarcity of water resources. Now my children have all moved here as well and when I asked them if they miss San Diego where they were born and grew up, they give me a resounding "no". So, no matter where you live, think about the consequences of living in an over-crowded, over developed and polluted place where our ignorance of climate change is killing the place we love.
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@Vicki Farrar
It's wonderful that New Mexico is working out for you. I know someone who I was born and raised and lived by the ocean for 45 years then moved to Albuquerque. He absolutely hated it couldn't stand the people, they certainly weren't very friendly, did not care for the weather at all, couldn't sell and get out of there soon enough. So it's really a personal matter, and not even remotely the same experience across the board for everyone.
4
@Vicki Farrar
Totally agree. I like the ocean too. I live less than a mile away. When I retire, I'm moving inland. Sandy was enough for me. I am NOT a slow learner.
10
@Vicki Farrar
Drought and scarcity of water resources? What a trade off. Hard to live without water.
2
Yesterday in the Dollar Tree a woman in line said “Maybe they’re right about this climate stuff.” Ya’ think?
Here in Myrtle Beach we’ve been experiencing severe weather since the wee hours. Tornado warnings seem constant since 4 am, along with flooding, etc. Dorian hasn’t reached here yet 😬.
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@Pani Korunova read the story. Hazel--1954.
@Pani Korunova
WOW! Just what will it take for more people to realize that "this climate stuff" is REAL and has devastating and life threatening impact on ALL nature AND humans?
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@bx
one or two big storms a century was normal, not one or two a year as we are seeing now. the effects of climate change are real
11
I know it isn't easy for the red state residents, but those in the Bahamas sure have it a lot worse, so let's get some serious aid there ASAP--they are the passive recipients of our carbon greed.
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@Muddlerminnow
Donate, please, please, please even if it's ten bucks. Every last bit will help and this is a humanitarian crisis.
4
Yang has the most rational Climate Change Proposals and one is “move everyone to higher ground” with money we taxpayers give away by the billions to the fossil fuel industry.
21
We may land on the Moon & explore Mars with a robot, but it takes a hurricane to show us that next to Mother Nature we a vulnerable specie, in our infancy.
14
I too love the ocean. The sea, like the mountains, reminds us how inconsequential we are in regard to nature. Our time on this earth is but a fleeting moment, a wave hitting the shore, or a rain drop.
Yet our cumulative effect on climate has already compromised most of the life in our oceans. I was scuba diving in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, a few years back and was stunned that the waters were murky with very little notable sea life of any kind in the muck.
I've often said that the earth doesn't care about the climate deniers. The earth will move on us. The hurricanes will increase. Water will rise. Paradise will be wiped out. Apocalypse - created not by "god" , but by "us"- is upon us. We cannot no longer stomach the fools who look towards the consumption of everything with complete disregard for life itself.
Eventually in some last gasp of oxygen, perhaps, the fat cats will panic enough to respect just a few words of what Greta Thundberg, the gifted teenage climate activist, is yelling to the world. It's time to panic.
Mother Earth doesn't need us my friends. She'll be here repairing long after we have become extinct or gone away in our plastic space ships.
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@David Kesler
So true. Similar phenom happening with the phosphorescent bays in Puerto Rico. Nothing to see anymore.
We need to rebrand the saying from "Save the Earth" to "Save Humanity" because, as you say, the planet will survive. We're only killing ourselves.
1
@David Kesler - :)))) So, the world is coming to an end due to fossil fuels and what do you do? Hop on a plane to fly to Puerto Vallarta to get onto a boat to go scuba diving? How are you any different than a "denier".
This is the same as a televangelist who tells me I'm going to burn in everlasting hellfire because of my sins and then he gets caught with his pregnant mistress.
1
I'm sitting here in my house in Summerville South Carolina which is just about 25 miles outside of Charleston and we have wind gusts about 50 miles per hour with steady rain. Our power went out and came back on. The trees are holding up although some of my neighbors have come down.
13
@Cheryl - And I'm sitting here in my house in the north GA mountains, under a high fire danger warning from the NWS due to dry conditions and wind. We've not had any significant rainfall in a month. We also have a lot of fuel on the ground due to the storm damage from the last three hurricanes (wind). It already feels like we've passed the tipping point and this will be the new normal.
Well, we're all thinking about you guys and hoping for the best, wondering too what/how those poor folks in the Bahamas are going to cope with what they're facing.
Good luck.
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@Cheryl- Good luck! Civilization exists at the whim of nature. If that doesn’t work, what nature doesn’t do to us will be done by our fellow man. Again, good luck!
2
@Deb
OMG. We're on a heat alert on the gulf near Sarasota, FL. The feel like temp is projected to be 110 degrees by....right now. It's from Dorian. I hope that you have the best possible scenario in the days ahead and get some rain very soon. As a life long New York state resident raised on Lake Erie, it's extremely important to remember the GREAT LAKES is one of the largest fresh water systems in the world AND also in grave danger. VOTE for people who are WOKE, there is still a bit of time to right this planet.
16
If only there was something we could do. Shrug.
11
Reality Check in realm of time mans place on earth realitvely just a blimp in life history of planet. Oceans been here since begining time.Our representives know exactly whats happening an aware the rising levels of carbon in the oceans will change face of earth.
1
@jerry lee. Except our carbon emissions have decreased.
Chris,
Your experiences mirror mine. My aunt had a beach house at Pawleys Island and the two weeks I spent there every summer were the happiest of childhood even though we had to rough it. (Twelve people, one bathroom, no AC in the middle of summer.) The house survived Hazel, Hugo and all the rest, and still stands today.
What doesn't stand is the Atlantic House restaurant at Folly Beach. Folly Beach is gradually going away. As the shoreline crept further inland, the restaurant actually became an island. My wife and I were among the last patrons before it had to close. It was kind of enjoyable sitting on the porch eating seafood and looking down through the floorboards at the breaking waves. I don't know which storm finally took it.
Thanks for the memories.
22
“Insouciance”?!? Now, that’s a weather related word we all know? One of the reasons I subscribe to the New York Times! Even in my later years, I need to have a dictionary at my side! Never stop learning!!!
40
All the candidates need to understand that we are beyond the point of just avoiding emissions. Carbon capture and beneficial use of that carbon waste needs to be a part of every candidate's plan. Otherwise, we'll be seeing more of this on a regular basis.
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@hlangsner - If we just required all 20 Democratic candidates to ride a bike instead of flying around the country trying to "out-kiss-babies" the carbon footprint of this country would significantly drop. Think about it.
1
Those before and after silent photos say more than any words possible could.
It always seems to be a coin toss between which states will endure that most havoc and damage from yearly hurricanes - Florida or the Carolinas.
On one hand I applaud the courage and fortitude these folks have for wanting to remain there all year round, but on the other hand, I keep asking myself - WHY?
Just that photo of waves crashing against a pier in Folly Beach, South Carolina makes me quiver and want to high tail it out of that region.
Good luck everyone! You folks have more brass than I could ever imagine. And don't forget about the safety of the pets!!!
17
@Marge Keller - I'm 61 yeas old and it seems New England gets it the worst.
1
Today the Bahamas, the southeast coast. But we’re at risk everywhere. Climate change is escalating, and the threat will intensify unless we take heroic measures to diminish it. The costs of action are small compared to inaction.
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@Portia
Yes, we are all at risk. We in NYC know full well the horrific power of wind and water. The storm endured by the Bahamians was bada, but the really awful part comes now. Trying to identify your neighborhood when all landmarks are smashed is disorienting. Imagine trying to find clean water and a little food on top of that!
19
The costs get higher every day we wait or hesitate, saying it’s too expensive and will cause too much upheaval. As if we have a choice. As if a certain kind of lightbulb is worth condemning your grandchildren to a horrific death...
7
@Billy
It's not whether it's the first of the season. It's the long-term pattern. There have been five Cat. 5s in the past four years -- Matthew (2016), Irma and Maria (2017), Michael (2018) and now Dorian.
Climate is an overall effect. Weather fluctuates day to day, just as the economy is a long-term pattern but the stock market changes daily. -- thegamesmenplay.com
Please, the writer’s livelihood depending on living near the ocean? That’s a big stretch.
29
The Bahamas have 150 mph building codes but they weren’t enough
31
@John - That never would have been enough in the last century. Google "category 5 hurricanes Florida" and you will read about storms with sustained winds of 185-190 mph going way back. And some of them were cat 5 storms for 72 hours vs. Dorian's 24 hours. Read about the Labor Day hurricane of 1935.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1935_Labor_Day_hurricane
Who names a hurricane Dorian? The name itself is ominous...
7
Well, that’s the mode used in So What the 1959 jazz classic by Miles Davis whose name pretty much sums up our corporate overlords attitude toward carbon emissions on planet Earth. I think it fits!
2
"For the fourth time since 2016, I was preparing for a hurricane: Matthew, Irma, Florence and now Dorian."
Stop rebuilding in these same locations - it is only going to get worse with climate change (and all these states are full of climate change deniers).
The Fed. Gov't should not insure these houses, condos, hotels, etc - these people need to move somewhere else (one last payment to move) and let nature come back and restore these areas (same for New Orleans).
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@BMD Didn't New York City get flooded by Sandy? So what should be moved or abandoned there? Just asking.
14
@Sza-Sza
New York was flooded in parts for the first time ever, because of Sandy.
The other locations on the coast have flooded regularly. And not even during a hurricane.
6
@BMD
I may be wrong but I think in many coastal areas you can’t insurance. This is why summer rentals costs so much. You need to recoup your investment in a season or two.
When I tried to get homeowners insurance for my new house in Jersey City from USAA, I was told that they no longer insure homes on the eastern seaboard. What does that tell us?
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@Julie N. - I was told exactly the same by USAA in 2005. They said my place on the west side of Providence was "too coastal".
19
@Julie N. They pretend to be a military "service". Choose a better casualty company.
11
@Julie N.
I was in the same boat (bad pun) after Irene. And I am on the highest ridge overlooking the harbor. If the water were to reach my block it would already cover half of Manhattan.
7
Charleston gets large sums of money from the entertainment tax revenue derived from its business and vacation visitors spending money on hotels, restaurants and tours. Instead of spending tax revenue on social services to support those visitors, a great deal of money is spent on its visitors bureau, housed in a historic railway storage building. High quality magazines and brochures promoting historical tours, hotels, restaurants and stores are produced and distributed to top hotels and Inns. Like New Orleans, downtown Charleston is below sea level, so the entire area floods whenever it is inundated during hurricanes. Another area that Charleston spends money on is police vehicles. A variety of police cars are regularly parked on one side of Francis Marion Square which regularly hosts art, food and musical events.
5
@Caesar
YOU ARE COMPLETELY WRONG!!!! No current part of the lived Charleston is below sea level. After Katrina I had to deal with student hysteria because of this exact falsehood. We are near sea level, of course, but not below. And I speak from a house that sits on top of a LONG (100++) years ago filled tidal creek. Of course we are flooded. We are on the southeastern coast. Duh. But when the storm passes and the tide recedes, we will be dry again. This is the opposite of what happened to New Orleans and it still makes perfect sense to live here. Yes, I’d rather go, but not because of the flooding. It’s the persistent deep racism that repels me.
8
I could never live far from the ocean but I respect it and know it’s fury. Get used to this weather it’s brought to you by capitalism and stupidity. Global warming was predicted in the 1880’s with a simple experiment you can do in any science class. I don’t know what new terror Mother Nature will show. But I bet we will have known it could happen before it does. Arrogance is fatal in this case.
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My current NH governor’s father was actually responsible or blocking action on climate change in Washington a generation ago.
Not something my governor brags about, or even wants you all to know. But it’s the truth. And he does nothing about climate change either.
23
@John
Svante Arrhenius in 1896 developed an equation that is still valid today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svante_Arrhenius
6
North and South Carolina have strict laws in place prohibiting the rebuilding of buildings destroyed by hurricanes in floodplain and in coastal areas. In North Carolina, these areas are regulated by one of the first in the nation agencies established to regulated coastal areas called the Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) established in the 1970s.
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@Mack
South Carolina used to have strict beach management laws. But new laws created by our Republican government are making beach destruction more likely. Case in point, Debordieu. The good people of Debordieu, (they're good and wealthy) have decided to build a rock seawall. This will eventually destroy the beach through erosion. But thankfully (for now), our governor, Henry McMaster, has gotten involved and stopped the project.
This is just one example of how our good laws are circumvented by Republicans (with a few exceptions like McMaster) who want to deny global warming while allowing the wealthy to take measures to prevent it's destructiveness! But only their private property need apply.
55
I understand the writer's affinity for the ocean, and I applaud his commitment to staying put despite the challenges. That said, I really don't want my tax dollars used to subsidize his or anybody else's lifestyle choice by using federally subsidized insurance to rebuild vulnerable homes in flood plains.
273
The insurance also covers people in the Midwest.
22
@thebigmancat: I don't want my tax dollars being used for lots of things, but they are. I suggest you write your congress person.
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@thebigmancat
Because zero tax dollars have ever gone to support New York City?
I seem to recall a federal bailout of New York in 2018.
It's worth noting that New York City is officially the most financially distressed metropolis in America, according to local debt counselors and financial analysts.
But you're caterwauling about someone else? Really?
17