Puerto rico hurricane aftermath 2017 upgrade#

What are some of the challenges associated with communicating hurricane risks to the public as the climate changes and sea levels rise? The interview has been condensed for clarity. NPR sat down with the new director of the National Hurricane Center, Michael Brennan, to talk about climate change, hurricane forecasts and how people can be ready for storms. And that requires understanding how dangers from hurricanes are changing as the Earth heats up. Local officials and residents in hurricane-prone places need to think about the growing threats from hurricanes long before a storm is barreling toward their homes.

'My sense is that it will definitely help on the spot to make very quick decisions,' says Ingrid Padilla, a hydrologist at the University of Puerto Rico.īut, Padilla emphasizes, last-minute preparations such as evacuation orders only go so far. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center have upgraded storm surge warning tools this year so they can provide real-time surge forecasts to residents of Puerto Rico and the U.S. This map is an example of a potential storm surge warning map for Puerto Rico. Storm surge – the wall of water that a hurricane pushes onto land – is the most deadly hurricane hazard, and it drives evacuation orders before a storm.

Puerto rico hurricane aftermath 2017 upgrade#

This year, the National Hurricane Center is rolling out a major upgrade to the computer model it uses to predict hurricane storm surge. They are responsible for warning people about how large a storm is, who is in its path and what dangers it poses. So, as the 2023 hurricane season gets underway, NPR spoke with the scientists at the National Hurricane Center who provide crucial public information about hurricanes. The cost of damage from hurricanes has skyrocketed, overwhelming emergency agencies, insurance companies and household budgets, displacing entire neighborhoods and killing people. A hotter Earth makes storms more likely to get big and dangerous. The United States is feeling the effects of climate-driven storms. This year's storms will arrive as millions of people are still recovering from years of back-to-back hurricane devastation, from Texas all the way to the Northeast, and from the Caribbean to West Virginia. The Atlantic hurricane season begins today. Climate change is making hurricanes more dangerous.

A resident bails water from a flooded home in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Catano, Puerto Rico in 2017.