Global Drought, Global Floods

Hundred year floods, now less than ten years apart.

Afghanistan

Brazil

Europe

United States

Detailed Analysis:

This PBS piece explains in detail what has happened and what the implications are. BLUF? FEMA has a map of eight million properties at risk. The analysis in this video has almost double that number, and 40% of actual claims are coming from those areas.

The top asset for most people is the house in which they live. Insurance companies are fleeing California wildfire risk and Florida hurricanes. The value of homes in marginal areas will plummet, but only after some race and income based games in which the wealthy are protected and the poor get wrecked.

I have vivid memories of hurricane Katrina - because the storm arrived the day after I began working for a New Orleans based IT services company. A longtime friend was their regional project manager and I was expecting to get a day or two of work a month, but at $1k/day for my skills, this was very attractive. The went under, literally, then financially, and I didn’t get paid for that first (and last) day for almost six months.

More vivid was my first encounter with climate refugees. A chartered bus brought dozens of people from Plaquemines parish, the very furthest tip of the Mississippi river delta. The lucky ones had a suitcase, the rest just the clothes on their backs. They were deeply frustrated by the news, which only showed New Orleans proper.

Conclusion:

If all that news has got you down …