As Texas reels in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, experts at the Earth Institute are doing their best to help make sense of how this storm became so destructive, and what’s needed for recovery.

Writing for CNN, atmospheric scientist Adam Sobel describes the various factors—from building on floodplains to a failure to evacuate—that made Harvey so devastating.

Suzana Camargo, an ocean physicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, tells State of the Planet about how Harvey strengthened from a tropical storm to a major hurricane so quickly.

In a commentary for Fortune, Suzana Camargo and Adam Sobel explain why we can’t say that climate change “caused” Hurricane Harvey, but how rising temperatures probably made the storm worse.

Will Hurricane Harvey be as bad as Katrina? John Mutter, who studies natural disasters at Lamont-Doherty, weighs in on The Atlantic.

With 30,000 Texans displaced by the storm, Jeff Schlegelmilch, deputy director of Columbia’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness, offered his advice to Marketplace on how to shelter all those people.

After the rains subside, it could take 15 years to recover from Hurricane Harvey, warns Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness. “Support to recovery efforts is critical,” he says.

Earth Institute Executive Director Steve Cohen expounds on what we can learn from storms like Harvey and Hurricane Sandy. He suggests setting aside more resources to respond to disasters and rebuild once they’re over.

Jeff Schlegelmilch applauds President Trump’s rapid response to the disaster, but cautions that supporting Texas’ long-term recovery will be an even greater challenge.

Mashable quotes Adam Sobel on how Houston’s location in a floodplain—as well as ongoing infrastructure development in that area—worsened Harvey’s impacts.

In an article about flood insurance, Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, tells the Washington Post that flooding is only going to get worse in the future because of climate change.  

Note for journalists: Earth Institute experts are available to answer questions about hurricane physics, rapid intensification, flooding, emergency response, and more.

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Source: Columb

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