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Hurricane Ian hit southwest Florida just as the state put historic amounts of money into climate resilience.
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Hurricane Ian hit southwest Florida just as the state put historic amounts of money into climate resilience.

Now officials have to move faster.

Catherine Boudreau
Business Insider UK, 2022
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Hurricane Ian destroyed entire communities in southwestern Florida, and left death, debris, sewage and toxic waste in its wake. Ian caused at least $75 billion in damages and more than 100 deaths, even as Florida had started to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to make itself more resilient. Still, the risks from such aren’t limited to Florida or to the coasts. As Catherine Boudreau reports for Business Insider, the massive rains Ian brought flooded inland regions also. As she notes, strengthening the United States’ infrastructure against massive storms such as Ian and other climate change–related natural disasters, including floods and wildfires, will take years and cost billions.

Summary

When Hurricane Ian devastated Florida’s southwest coast in the fall of 2022, infrastructure hardening against future hurricanes had only just begun.

When Hurricane Ian, a powerful category four storm – nearly a five – blasted across southwest Florida, it cut off power and left the coast and some inland communities with more than 125 deaths, a desolate landscape choked with debris from shattered buildings, and water polluted by diesel fuel, sewage and toxic chemicals – posing myriad health risks. South Florida rests on “porous rocks,” and rising water emerges from underground, slowing the draining of excess rain and storm surge and posing further vulnerabilities.

When Ian arrived, Florida and the US federal government were already investing billions to reinforce the state’s defenses and infrastructure and render it more...

About the Author

Catherine Boudreau is senior sustainability reporter at Business Insider.

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