U.S. Communities Increasingly at Risk of Extreme Weather Events

Last year, over 40 percent of Americans lived in counties struck by climate change-induced extreme weather events, while more than 80 percent experienced at least one day of extreme heat, according to research from The Washington Post, report Sarah Kaplan and Andrew Ba Tran.

Disasters affected regions across the country, with wildfires ravaging the West, heat waves killing hundreds in the Pacific Northwest, and hurricanes causing massive damage on the East Coast. "In the country that has generated more greenhouse gases than any other nation in history, global warming is expanding its reach and exacting an escalating toll."

In a steadily warming world, disasters can happen in places, at times and with intensities never seen before. They overwhelm infrastructure that wasn’t built to deal with them. They catch communities unprepared.

While some disasters—such as the deep freeze that paralyzed Texas infrastructure or the outbreak of tornadoes in Kentucky—can't be attributed to climate change, according to scientists, the record-breaking Pacific Northwest heat dome would not have been possible without it.

The authors note that climate change isn't the only way humans are contributing to more destructive disasters. Some factors, like development in high-risk areas, human-caused ignition sources, and exposed power lines can be mitigated with local land use regulations, public policy, and awareness campaigns. While fighting climate change takes a global effort, policymakers can also make impactful changes on a local scale by taking action to implement forward-looking policies and help residents build strong social support systems to help each other during a crisis.