Key Facts Of The Day 10/04

Hurricanes

• Days after Hurricane Ian hit, communities on the east coast are facing the devastating aftermath. 
  • As of Tuesday morning, over 400,000 customers in Florida remained without power.
  • As of Monday, at least 101 people have been killed by the hurricane in Florida.
  • Floridians limited by low or fixed incomes have to face finding a decent place to live in a state that is mired in an affordable housing crunch. The state’s enduring popularity, inflation, and soaring rental costs have made it one of the least affordable places to live in the nation.
    • Some people said staying in water-ravaged homes is their only option.
    • A New York Times aerial survey of Fort Myers Beach showed nearly 400 buildings damaged or destroyed in just the northern portion of the barrier island. 
    • The mayor of nearby Sanibel, a barrier island where about 6,400 people live year-round, described it as uninhabitable.
    • In Central Florida’s Seminole County, where flooding continues, officials counted at least 1,900 homes with damage. 
    • In Key West, about 200 people were displaced by the storm.
  • Hurricane Ian caused significant damage to Florida’s agriculture.
    • Many of Florida’s top crops, like strawberries and cucumbers, rely heavily on bees for pollination, and Hurricane Ian took a heavy toll on honeybee colonies.
    • Some growers suffered large losses of citrus either blown off trees or still on branches that fell to the ground. 
    • Farmers as far north as St. Augustine are facing flooded vegetable fields.
  • The J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge is on Florida’s Sanibel Island, which took a direct hit from Hurricane Ian. 
    • The refuge is alongside the Gulf of Mexico on Florida’s west coast and protects part of what the Fish and Wildlife Service calls the “largest undeveloped mangrove ecosystem” in the U.S.
  • Hurricane Ian has forced many Florida families to put their puts up for adoption because they are no longer able to care for them.
• During his visit to Puerto Rico, President Biden announced more than $60 million in additional funding through the bipartisan infrastructure law to shore up levees, fortify floodwalls and create a new flood warning system on the island.
  • As of Tuesday, about 109,000 are still without power in Puerto Rico two weeks after Fiona.
  • Hurricane Fiona flooded the Central Mercedita community – a few minutes north of the airport where the President landed – stranding people for days.
    • Gerardo Manuel Robles, Central Mercedita’s community leader, said families are spending $30 to $50 daily to buy fuel to power their generators. Fallen trees and blue tarps sit on top of many destroyed homes.
  • Puerto Rican residents like Ileana Vargas of Cabo Rojo, where Fiona made landfall, said they wished the Bidens had spent more time visiting other communities and meeting with more residents so they could see firsthand how many areas were devastated and still remain without electricity.
  • Close to $155 million in emergency individual and public assistance for residents affected by Fiona has been made available to Puerto Rico. 
  • So far, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved more than 200,000 individual assistance applications on the island, allowing people to receive $700.

Wildfires

• As of Tuesday, there are currently 74 large active wildfires that have burned 782,017 across CA, ID, MT, NE, OK, OR, SD, TX, and WA. As of Tuesday, 54,533 wildfires have burned 6,927,083 acres across the country.
• In California, 1 fire has burned 76,788 acres as of Tuesday.
  • The Mosquito Fire has burned 76,788 acres and is 90% contained as of Tuesday.
• In Oregon, 5 fires have burned 327,079 acres as of Tuesday.
  • The Cedar Creek Fire has burned 120,757 acres and is 34% contained as of Tuesday.
• In Texas, 2 fires have burned 2,113 acres as of Tuesday.

Extreme Heat

• Wild blueberry harvest in Maine suffered in this year’s drought.
  • Many of the state’s estimated 485 wild blueberry growers say they lost 50% or more of their crop this year, especially in the midcoast where the drought was severe.
• The drought in the western U.S. has led farmers and ranchers to look elsewhere for revenue including planting new crops, starting tours, renting RVs, and renting cabins. 
• California braces for dry winter as the Western drought drags on.
  • The worst conditions are throughout the Central Valley, the state’s agricultural heartland where many of the nation’s fruits, vegetables, and nuts are grown. 

New Reports and Data

• An October 2022 study found that a combination of the laws enacted this year could yield half a million net clean energy-related jobs across the U.S. by 2050.
• An October 2022 study found that large quantities of coal ash have been transferred and deposited in lake sediments since the beginning of coal operations in North Carolina.
• A September 2022 study found that hundreds of hospitals on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are at risk of flooding from hurricanes.