Notes From an Environmentalist.

Hurricane Helene, People Dying in Trees

                          Hurricane Helene

        “I’m in tears. they are finding bodies in trees.” 

                                             As told to climate change

                                             activist Anna Jane Joyner

                                                  September 25, 2024                             

Just when we thought there was a glimmer of hope that we could wiggle our way out of the climate crisis along came Hurricane Helene, to show us that we had already passed several crucial tipping points.

The Atlantic Ocean was the warmest it had ever been in recorded history, providing abundant fuel for more frequent and intense storms.

The atmosphere was hotter than it had ever been so these storms could hold more water.

Helene formed so quickly over the overheated Gulf of Mexico that it took some residents by surprise others were so confused and dispirited by past storms they refused to evacuate.

So, the massive category 4 hurricane slammed into the Big Bend area of Florida then moved quickly inland where it was expected to dissipate over dry land.

But the land wasn’t dry in North Carolina. It had rained for several days before Helene had arrived so the ground was so saturated with water that the record breaking 40 trillion gallons of rain had no place to go so it gouged out valleys, crested streams and clawed rocks, boulders, houses and highways off steep sided mountains.

People crawled out of upstairs windows and spent long nights hanging onto trees only to be found dead in the morning still grasping their tree branches like our simian ancestors.

But something more than houses and lives had been lost. People had lost faith in ever finding places safe from the ravages of heat, drought, storms, flooding and sea level rise.

Helene’s grand entrance was a sharp rejoinder to the stories of false hope that had emanated from New York’s upbeat Climate Week that ended only days before.