Hurricane Delta Made Landfall Yesterday. What happened?
Summary
Hurricane Delta made landfall on the Gulf Coast last night, bringing major damage to Louisiana.
- More than 500,000 Americans are without power and tens of thousands of homes destroyed after Hurricane Delta hit the southwestern coast of Louisiana yesterday.
- Delta was a category 2 hurricane, with winds up to 100 miles per hour.
- Delta came less than two months after the landfall of Category 4 Hurricane Laura in late August, which left thousands of Louisianans homeless and destroyed infrastructure across the state. It is the 25th named storm in 2020’s Atlantic hurricane season.
- While Hurricane Laura caused most damage with its high-powered winds, Hurricane Delta caused flood damage from the 15 inches of rain it left across the state.
- No deaths have been reported from the storm, but state officials say that significant danger remains for people living in hurricane-affected areas, including carbon monoxide poisoning and flood-related injuries.
- 3,000 Louisiana National Guardsmen have deployed to the affected regions alongside 10,000 utility workers.
- The storm weakened significantly after its initial landfall, reducing to a tropical depression.
- Damage was most significant outside of Lake Charles, LA, where tarps were blown off from houses still recovering from damage related to Hurricane Laura.
- Reports that this year’s unprecedentedly harsh hurricane season is likely due to climate change.
- Portrays the lingering impact of Hurricane Laura as a failure of the government to provide for working class Americans, who can’t seem to catch a break.
- Shares the story of immigrants who are disproportionately affected by the storms.
- Reports on working class Americans affected by the storm.
- Provides coverage of the excellent preparedness that local leaders practiced by warning citizens and providing relief to those affected.
- Researches experimental hurricane prevention measures, framing them as a non-climate change-related solution to the issue of hurricanes.
© Evelyn Torsher, 2020