US Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday called climate change an “immediate” and “urgent” crisis as she detailed more than US$1 billion in federal spending to respond to disasters such as deadly flooding in Kentucky and wildfires ravaging her home state of California.
On a visit to Miami, Harris announced a series of grants being made available to states to help communities across the nation prepare for and respond to climate-related disasters.
Touring the US National Hurricane Center before the grant announcement, Harris said that disasters such as the Kentucky floods and California wildfires show “how immediate, how current and how urgent” it is to address extreme weather being experienced in the US and around the world.
Photo: AFP
“Climate change has become a climate crisis, and a threat has now become a reality,” she said in a speech at Florida International University.
Harris cited deadly floods that have swept through Kentucky and Missouri, “washing away entire neighborhoods,” leaving at least 35 people dead, including children.
At least two people were killed in a wildfire in northern California that was among several fires menacing thousands of homes in the western US. Hot and gusty weather and lightning storms threatened to boost the danger that the fires will keep growing.
“The devastation is real. The harm is real. The impact is real,” Harris said. “And we are witnessing it in real time.”
Last year, the US had 20 climate-related disasters that each caused more than US$1 billion in damage, Harris said, citing a report by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“The frequency has accelerated in a relatively short period of time,” Harris said. “The science is clear. Extreme weather will only get worse and the climate crisis will only accelerate.”
The White House is leading a government-wide response to climate disasters that “recognizes the urgency of this moment and our ability to do something about it,” Harris said, adding that leaders such as herself and US President Joe Biden “have a duty to act, not only after disaster strikes, but before disaster strikes, and that is why we are here today.”
The billion-dollar grant program announced by Harris doubles spending from last year on programs to defend against extreme weather events across the country.
Biden last month announced that the administration would double spending yet again in the budget year that begins in October, spending US$2.3 billion to help communities cope with soaring temperatures through programs administered by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the US Department of Health and Human Services, and other agencies.
The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, supports states, local communities, tribes and territories on projects to reduce climate-related hazards and prepare for natural disasters such as floods and wildfires. The program is funded through FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and an infrastructure law signed by Biden last year.
“Communities across our nation are experiencing first-hand the devastating impacts of the climate change and the related extreme weather events that follow — more energized hurricanes with deadlier storm surges, increased flooding and a wildfire season that’s become a year-long threat,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said.
A total of US$1 billion would be made available through the BRIC program, with another US$160 million to be offered for flood mitigation assistance, Criswell said.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said that his city has elevated 17km of roads, installed 46 stormwater public pumps and retrofitted parks to include water-storing cisterns.
The South Florida Water Management District in Miami-Dade County received US$50 million for flood mitigation and pump station repairs to protect low-lying neighborhoods from sea-level rise and storm surge.
“My city doesn’t debate whether the climate is changing, we simply look at the ground on a sunny day and see flooding,” Gelber said.
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