Key Facts Of The Day 6/17

Hurricanes

• • Abbott has stopped production of EleCare formula in its Sturgis, Michigan, plant after severe storms led to flooding inside the plant.
    • Severe thunderstorms and heavy rains came through southwestern Michigan on Monday evening, resulting in high winds, hail, power outages, and flood damage throughout the area.
  • Yellowstone National Park could reopen entrances on the south end of the park early next week as it and the surrounding region continue to deal with the aftermath of historic floods that destroyed roads and bridges and forced thousands to evacuate.
    • However, most of the park, especially the heavily impacted northern end, could remain closed all summer.
    • On Thursday, President Biden approved Montana’s request for a major disaster declaration, a move that provides federal aid to three counties devastated by this week’s flooding.

• The Montana governor’s office asked President Biden to issue a presidential disaster declaration for portions of the state hardest hit by flooding, noting significant damage to “five state-owned bridges” and 218 miles of closed roads, “most of which have no alternate route.”

• • In Park County, Montana, in the valley between hard-hit Gardiner and Livingston, impacts to roadways and bridges there have a significant impact on industry, livelihoods, and public safety.
  • Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon announced that he would also declare a state of emergency in response to the flooding.
  • The flooding was caused by warmer-than-normal temperatures melting mountain snowpacks, along with significant rains starting Monday that quickly filled rivers and led to flooding, mudslides, and other damage.
  • One expert warns that the combination of snowmelt and rain that led to the sudden floods “is typical of what we can expect in the future with a warming climate.”
• 10 months later, Native Americans in Louisiana still struggle to recover from Hurricane Ida.
  • The buffers of land, trees, and marsh grass that once protected Native American communities from storms in the Gulf of Mexico have dwindled.
  • When Ida barreled through southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29, it slammed into an area home to many Native American tribes, battering people already struggling to overcome decades of coastal erosion and the long shadow of discrimination.
  • With the start of a new hurricane season predicted to be as busy as the last, tribal officials worry their people could be in the crosshairs again.
  •  About 11,000 members of the United Houma Nation experienced some sort of damage from Ida.
  • Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe member Theresa Dardar said only about 12 homes in the lower part of the Pointe-au-Chien community actually survived the storm.
  • Farther west, where many members of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw live, Chief Shirell Parfait-Dardar said everyone had some sort of damage, with about 20% of homes a total loss, even her own.

Wildfires

• As of Friday, there are currently 32 large active wildfires that have burned 1,623,542 across AK, AZ, CA, NM, and TX. As of Friday, 30,449 wildfires have burned 2,990,255 acres across the country.
• In Alaska, 19 fires have burned 902,678 acres as of Friday.
• In Arizona, 6 fires have burned 53,979 acres as of Friday.
• In California, 2 fires have burned 1,458 acres as of Friday.
• In New Mexico, 4 fires have burned 664,154 acres as of Friday.
  • The Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire has burned 336,638 acres and is 72% contained as of Friday.
  • The Black Fire has burned 321,681 acres and is 50% contained as of Friday.
• In Texas, 1 fire has burned 1,273 acres as of Friday.

Extreme Heat

• The official first day of summer has not even arrived and already the country is overheated.
  • The Midwest was hit with an unseasonably early heat wave in May that smashed records. The region has since been buffeted by more heat as well as severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.
  • Hundreds of thousands of Midwesterners lost power earlier this week as temperatures soared into the upper 90s.
  • In Madison, Wisconsin, some elderly residents had to be helped out of their sweltering homes, where they had been trapped after finding they could not open their garage doors without electricity.
• Residents of Odessa, Texas improvised emergency water supplies after a water system outage left them high and dry for days amid scorching heat.
  • Taps in 165,000 homes and businesses lost pressure or went completely dry after a 24-inch main broke Monday afternoon.
  • Resident Nikki Friday said the city was providing bottled drinking water and that people with wells were offering neighbors water from hoses.
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects 2022 to be one of the 10 warmest years on record.
  • This past spring saw temperatures 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. 
  • It was the sixth-warmest March-to-May period since 1880.
  • In May, temperatures in the U.S. were 1.7 degrees above normal, with parts of the South and Southwest having temperatures in the triple digits.
  • Texas power usage reached an all-time high on June 12 amid a persistent early summer heat wave.
  • NOAA also said water reservoir levels in the region are 10% below what’s expected this time of year.
  • The climactic pattern known as La Niña is likely to continue through September, which may prolong the severe drought in the West and Southwest into late fall and winter.

New Reports And Data

• A June 2022 report found that Black New Yorkers are twice as likely to die from heat stress than white New Yorkers.
• A June 2022 report found that repeated exposure to hurricanes, whether direct, indirect, or media-based, is linked to adverse psychological symptoms and may be associated with increased mental health problems.
• A June 2022 study found that wildfire smoke exposure negatively impacts dairy cows’ health.