Sustainable Switch-Hurricane Milton’s trail of destruction
Oct 10 -
By Sharon Kimathi
Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital
sharon.kimathi@thomsonreuters.com
Hello,
Today’s newsletter continues where Tuesday’s left off as the Gulf Coast of the United States prepares for Hurricane Milton.
Hurricane Milton marched across Florida on Thursday after making landfall on the state's west coast hours earlier, whipping up deadly tornadoes, destroying homes, and knocking out power to nearly two million customers.
The storm closed in on Florida's Gulf Coast, leaving residents only a few hours to evacuate or hunker down before the storm brings a life-threatening surge of seawater, shredding winds, and a deluge of rain to a region already battered by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago.
The storm was on a collision course for the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, home to more than three million people. Forecasters said seawater could still rise as high as 13 feet (4 meters).
‘Better to get out of town’
At least two deaths were reported at a retirement community following a suspected tornado in Fort Pierce on the eastern coast of Florida, NBC News reported, citing St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson. His department did not immediately respond to a request for details.
Michael Tylenda, who was visiting his son in Tampa, said he was heeding the advice from officials to evacuate.
"If anybody knows anything about Florida, when you don't evacuate when you're ordered to, you can pretty much die," Tylenda said. "The house can be replaced. The stuff can be replaced. It's just better to get out of town."
Sarasota County Emergency Management Chief Sandra Tapfumaneyi told CNN that people who remain on the barrier islands in her county just south of Tampa likely would not survive the projected 10- to 15-foot storm surge.
"If you choose to stay, make sure you have a life preserver handy," she said.
What is behind the storm?
As storm winds organize into a hurricane, they pull energy from the heat in surface waters. The warmer the water, the more fuel for a hurricane.
Thanks to climate change, water temperatures are rising. In the last four decades, the ocean has absorbed about 90% of the warming from greenhouse gas emissions.
This year has seen especially warm waters due to climate change, with 2024 on track to have the warmest average global air temperature on record.
The past 12 months have seen global warming at 1.62 degrees Celsius (2.92 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Tuesday.
A storm's strength is defined by its sustained wind speeds, with a Category 1 hurricane carrying wind speeds of 74-95 mph (119-153 kph), while a dangerous Category 5 storm has wind speeds of 157 mph (252 kph) or higher.
Click here for the full Reuters explainer.
How does Hurricane Milton compare to Hurricane Helene?
Many of the communities facing Milton are still recovering from Hurricane Helene last month, which killed more than 200 people after causing disastrous inland flooding, particularly in the mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
At its most intense, Helene was a Category 4 hurricane, reaching sustained winds of 140 mph (220 kph) and a minimum central pressure of 938 millibars at its peak.
Milton quickly surpassed that , becoming a Category 5 storm within hours with sustained winds of 180 mph (285 kph) and a minimum central pressure of 897 millibars on Tuesday.
Talking Points
At least 22 people have died in severe floods and landslides which wiped out whole villages across Bosnia and Herzegovina and caused huge damage to the impoverished Balkan country, officials said.
Google case: In a landmark case, a judge found in August that Google, which processes 90% of U.S. internet searches, had built an illegal monopoly. Now, the Department of Justice is planning to force Alphabet's Google to divest parts of its business, such as its Chrome browser and Android operating system, that it says are used to maintain an illegal monopoly in online search. Click here for the full Reuters story.
In keeping with ESG tech developments, social media users in the European Union will be able to make complaints against Facebook, ByteDance's TikTok and Alphabet's YouTube over content moderation to a new independent body set up in Ireland.
Boeing drama: Talks broke down between Boeing and its key manufacturing union, with no negotiations currently planned as the financially damaging strike heads into a fourth week. "We're in this for the long haul and our members understand that," said Jon Holden, lead negotiator for the Machinists Union representing Boeing workers.
The United States is incredibly concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, particularly in northern Gaza, the State Department said, adding it is the subject of very urgent discussions between Washington and Israel.
ESG Lens
Hurricanes Milton and Helene are putting new pressure on the federal government's emergency response agency FEMA, which is already short of money, hit by a politics-fueled disinformation campaign and burdened by its past failures in handling massive storms.
In fact, FEMA had to update its website’s frequently asked questions page to include a section to address the rising rumors being spread about it online that are hindering rescue and recovery efforts.
ESG Spotlight
After millions of people were ordered to flee along Florida's Gulf Coast, the African elephants, Caribbean flamingos, pygmy hippos and about 1,000 other animals were riding out the monstrous Hurricane Milton at Tampa's zoo.
For many of the animals, the storm will mean they have to give up the creature comforts of their everyday accommodations but they will not have to leave ZooTampa's 70-acre (28-hectare) property, even though it is in a mandatory evacuation zone, said Tiffany Burns, senior director of its animal programs.
Today’s Sustainable Switch was edited by Mark Potter
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