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Here are steps you can take to prepare and common misconceptions to keep in mind.
Hurricane Idalia is the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2023 season to make landfall in the continental United States, but it will by no means be the last. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, has predicted an “above normal” hurricane season for the year, driven in part by record-high sea surface temperatures.
Hurricanes bring many variables with them, and their effects don’t end when the wind and rain stops. I spoke with Joel Cline, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, about steps you can take to prepare and common misconceptions to keep in mind. Here are the dos and don’ts of hurricane season:
Do: Harden your home
Preparing for a hurricane can begin long before hurricane season. If you live in an area that tends to see storms, consider investing in structural improvements that can harden your home against a hurricane, like roof braces and storm-rated doors and windows. Some states, including Florida, provide subsidies to help defray the costs of those improvements, and the earlier you have those improvements in place the better protected your home will be. Just remember that “hurricane-proof” is a bit of a misnomer; each hurricane is different, and one set of improvements, like storm shutters, won’t protect against every variable.
Do: Write up a plan
Long before a hurricane arrives, you can create a plan for how your family should react. Map out local evacuation routes and decide meeting points in case you get separated, like a local emergency shelter.
Once you’ve made your plans, discuss them with friends and family members who live elsewhere — if you have a kid away at college, for example, talk to them about what they should do. Ready.gov, the federal government’s landing page for disaster preparedness, has many resources available to walk you through each step of the process.
Don’t: Evacuate to somewhere near a river
The locations of evacuation shelters are chosen for many reasons, such as being located outside of flood zones. If you have to evacuate and choose not to go to an evacuation shelter, stay away from rivers. You might feel safer being away from the coast, but rivers can often flood in the wake of a hurricane, Cline told me.
Do: Assemble your emergency kit and secure important documents
Put together an emergency kit with food, water, and medicine; Ready.gov suggest several days’ worth of non-perishable food and water, including one gallon of water per person per day. Toss in items like backup batteries for your phones, flashlights, and a battery or hand-cranked emergency radio so you can listen for alerts. Also make sure you have copies of your important personal documents in case they get lost or damaged.
If you’re planning on staying at home, make sure you’re prepared to spend a few days without utilities. “I don't think people prepare enough for being without power for a long period of time,” Cline said. “We've become very dependent on power, so people don't have enough resources to get by, like canned foods or ice or water to flush toilets.”
Do: Properly set up a generator
If you have a generator or decide to buy one, make sure you have enough fuel to last you a few days and prioritize only the most essential needs — no TVs, for example. Generators should be kept at least 20 feet away from your house; according to NPR, carbon monoxide deaths often spike in the wake of large storms due to improperly-placed portable generators. If you can, try to get a few carbon monoxide alarms that are either battery-powered or have battery backups.
Don’t: Fixate on the storm’s category
Instead of just paying attention to a storm’s categories, keep an eye on how local conditions are changing.
“I think people rely too much on the categories of systems for their own preparedness levels,” Cline said. While categories are a handy shorthand for storm severity, they don’t say much about what localized impacts should be.
Rather than focusing on that number, Cline told me, people should look for information specific to their area. “They should prepare for the impacts for their area by listening to the local weather forecast office. Local forecast officers track the local conditions, so they'll know about how the rainfall, storm surge, and winds will impact your area.”
Cline said one of the most common mistakes people make ahead of a storm is a behavior called anchoring, or locking firmly onto information that suggests the impact of a storm might not be too bad. This is a normal human trait: We want to be reassured. But that can be dangerous.
“Don’t anchor on something your neighbor might have told you about how the storm will miss your area or won’t be too bad,” Cline said. “That might have been true 24 hours ago, but not anymore.”
Case in point: Idalia was upgraded from a tropical storm to a hurricane, and as it approached Florida it danced between Category 2 and Category 4, eventually making landfall as a Category 3 storm before weakening back down to Category 2. Those changes happened quickly, and could have been easily missed.
Do: Stay off your phone
Call one person outside of the impacted area to give them an update on your situation, but otherwise try to stay off the phone. Cell service is often impacted in the wake of a storm, and emergency personnel need to use those phone lines to coordinate their response.
Don’t: Rush outside or back home
Hurricanes linger in more ways than one. It can be easy to assume that the coast is clear once the storm has moved on, but Cline said that can prove deadly.
“When the sun's out, and there's no wind, and it’s a couple of days after the storm, you may drive around to look at things,” Cline told me. “That’s not a good idea, firstly because emergency people are trying to get around, but also because you might end up driving into a flooded roadway. And that's where we lose a lot of people as well. People don't understand the lingering impacts.”
Don’t go back to your home until officials give the all-clear. When you return, look out for hazards like downed electrical wires or chemicals. Take stock of your home and contact your insurance company. Once you do, rebuilding can begin.
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And more of this week’s top renewable energy fights across the country.
1. Otsego County, Michigan – The Mitten State is proving just how hard it can be to build a solar project in wooded areas. Especially once Fox News gets involved.
2. Atlantic County, New Jersey – Opponents of offshore wind in Atlantic City are trying to undo an ordinance allowing construction of transmission cables that would connect the Atlantic Shores offshore wind project to the grid.
3. Benton County, Washington – Sorry Scout Clean Energy, but the Yakima Nation is coming for Horse Heaven.
Here’s what else we’re watching right now…
In Connecticut, officials have withdrawn from Vineyard Wind 2 — leading to the project being indefinitely shelved.
In Indiana, Invenergy just got a rejection from Marshall County for special use of agricultural lands.
In Kansas, residents in Dickinson County are filing legal action against county commissioners who approved Enel’s Hope Ridge wind project.
In Kentucky, a solar project was actually approved for once – this time for the East Kentucky Power Cooperative.
In North Carolina, Davidson County is getting a solar moratorium.
In Pennsylvania, the town of Unity rejected a solar project. Elsewhere in the state, the developer of the Newton 1 solar project is appealing their denial.
In South Carolina, a state appeals court has upheld the rejection of a 2,300 acre solar project proposed by Coastal Pine Solar.
In Washington State, Yakima County looks like it’ll keep its solar moratorium in place.
And more of this week’s top policy news around renewables.
1. Trump’s Big Promise – Our nation’s incoming president is now saying he’ll ban all wind projects on Day 1, an expansion of his previous promise to stop only offshore wind.
2. The Big Nuclear Lawsuit – Texas and Utah are suing to kill the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority to license small modular reactors.
3. Biden’s parting words – The Biden administration has finished its long-awaited guidance for the IRA’s tech-neutral electricity credit (which barely changed) and hydrogen production credit.
A conversation with J. Timmons Roberts, executive director of Brown University’s Climate Social Science Network
This week’s interview is with Brown University professor J. Timmons Roberts. Those of you familiar with the fight over offshore wind may not know Roberts by name, but you’re definitely familiar with his work: He and his students have spearheaded some of the most impactful research conducted on anti-offshore wind opposition networks. This work is a must-read for anyone who wants to best understand how the anti-renewables movement functions and why it may be difficult to stop it from winning out.
So with Trump 2.0 on the verge of banning offshore wind outright, I decided to ask Roberts what he thinks developers should be paying attention to at this moment. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Is the anti-renewables movement a political force the country needs to reckon with?
Absolutely. In my opinion it’s been unfortunate for the environmental groups, the wind development, the government officials, climate scientists – they’ve been unwilling to engage directly with those groups. They want to keep a very positive message talking about the great things that come with wind and solar. And they’ve really left the field open as a result.
I think that as these claims sit there unrefuted and naive people – I don’t mean naive in a negative sense but people who don’t know much about this issue – are only hearing the negative spin about renewables. It’s a big problem.
When you say renewables developers aren’t interacting here – are you telling me the wind industry is just letting these people run roughshod?
I’ve seen no direct refutation in those anti-wind Facebook groups, and there’s very few environmentalists or others. People are quite afraid to go in there.
But even just generally. This vast network you’ve tracked – have you seen a similar kind of counter mobilization on the part of those who want to build these wind farms offshore?
There’s some mobilization. There’s something called the New England for Offshore Wind coalition. There’s some university programs. There’s some other oceanographic groups, things like that.
My observation is that they’re mostly staff organizations and they’re very cautious. They’re trying to work as a coalition. And they’re going as slow as their most cautious member.
As someone who has researched these networks, what are you watching for in the coming year? Under the first year of Trump 2.0?
Yeah I mean, channeling my optimistic and Midwestern dad, my thought is that there may be an overstepping by the Trump administration and by some of these activists. The lack of viable alternative pathways forward and almost anti-climate approaches these groups are now a part of can backfire for them. Folks may say, why would I want to be supportive of your group if you’re basically undermining everything I believe in?
What do you think developers should know about the research you have done into these networks?
I think it's important for deciding bodies and the public, the media and so on, to know who they’re hearing when they hear voices at a public hearing or in a congressional field hearing. Who are the people representing? Whose voice are they advancing?
It’s important for these actors that want to advance action on climate change and renewables to know what strategies and the tactics are being used and also know about the connections.
One of the things you pointed out in your research is that, yes, there are dark money groups involved in this movement and there are outside figures involved, but a lot of this sometimes is just one person posts something to the internet and then another person posts something to the internet.
Does that make things harder when it comes to addressing the anti-renewables movement?
Absolutely. Social media’s really been devastating for developing science and informed, rational public policymaking. It’s so easy to create a conspiracy and false information and very slanted, partial information to shoot holes at something as big as getting us off of fossil fuels.
Our position has developed as we understand that indeed these are not just astro-turf groups created by some far away corporation but there are legitimate concerns – like fishing, where most of it is based on certainty – and then there are these sensationalized claims that drive fears. That fear is real. And it’s unfortunate.
Anything else you’d really like to tell our readers?
I didn’t really choose this topic. I feel like it really got me. It was me and four students sitting in my conference room down the hall and I said, have you heard about this group that just started here in Rhode Island that’s making these claims we should investigate? And students were super excited about it and have really been the leaders.