A cycle of “perpetual disaster recovery” threatens to drag down states along the Gulf of Mexico as climate change adds to the danger of overlapping extreme weather events, a new report finds.
Researchers affiliated with the National Academies looked at compound disasters that hit the Gulf region between 2020 and 2021. Those included seven hurricanes and one winter storm that each caused more than $1 billion in damages.
The steady stream of disasters landed especially hard on communities who — after generations of disinvestment amid systemic racism — lacked the resources to absorb the damage or recover quickly, according to analysis released Wednesday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
“Consequently, perpetual disaster recovery, coupled with increasing disaster risk, is an enduring reality for many living in [Gulf of Mexico] communities,” according to the report, which was sponsored by the Gulf Research Program, established as part of the legal settlement from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
