Editorial: Helene's 500 miles of wreckage and devastation should bring howls of fury at leaders' folly

Orlando Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel on Oct 3, 2024

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The storms speak and their voices are growing more violent, more vehement.

This storm — Helene — may be the most furious yet. It raked glancing blows through the Caribbean and along Mexico’s coast before slamming into Florida’s Big Bend at Category 4, with 140 mph sustained winds that tore buildings into scraps of wood and plaster. Devastating storm surges along Florida’s entire west coast sent up to 15 feet of filthy water into homes and businesses, washing away lifetimes and for some, lives.

But the storm’s fury did not abate. As Helene moved into Georgia, Atlanta faced its first-ever flash flood emergency as torrential rain pelted down, sending major water bodies surging over their banks throughout the state and adding to the millions without power. But the most devastating impacts might be in North Carolina, where Helene ravaged the historic city of Asheville and left thousands of residents stranded with no power, no roads and few means of communication. Helene’s 500-mile path of destruction destroyed structures and claimed lives in South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee as well. Millions are without power.

The storm’s deepest gouges manifested in lives lost: CNN is reporting more than 100 dead as of Monday morning, and hundreds more are unaccounted for.

The names of the dead are largely unknown right now, but they are part of Helene’s furious howl.

Global, national and state leaders must recognize at long last that the world’s climate cares nothing for political fiction. The world’s seas are growing warmer. Ice floes are melting. Sea levels are rising. Florida, flat and surrounded by water, is just the harbinger. Unusually violent storms, including blizzards and tornadoes, are manifesting with greater frequency. Communities along both seaboards and in the nation’s river deltas are seeing sunny-day flooding. In many ecosystems, the balance between prey and predator is being thrown off-balance by a lack of places for fish to spawn or prairie to roam.

Human beings may not be the sole cause of this global upheaval. But they are the only ones with the ability and the ingenuity to stop or at least slow the damage. Without drastic, responsible action, we are facing storms that could make Helene’s fury fade into memory.

That’s why Floridians should look at this storm’s destruction — and become enraged. Earlier this summer, they learned of an initiative that would strip mention of concepts such as climate change from state textbooks. It’s a far cry from six years ago, when Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke of “resiliency” as the No. 1 priority of his administration, and promised to fight for responsible stewardship of land and water.

There are other things to be angry about. In the coming months, we suspect it will become obvious that many of the people who suffered devastating losses will have no insurance policies to fall back on — especially seniors on fixed incomes who could not afford the premiums that state leaders have allowed to spiral out of control. They will also hear assessments of disaster readiness throughout Florida, and that some communities were still not prepared to deal with a storm this savage, particularly its floodwaters.

But that fury should not distract from the biggest failure of all: The reality that humans are — bit by bit — destroying this world’s ability to sustain human life. They should hear the howl of nature’s fury, though Helene’s wrath has passed. And they should add their own rage-filled demand for change. Until they do, these storms’ fatal price will continue to be paid, again and again — in screaming winds that rip buildings from their foundations, in implacable walls of filthy water, in buckled roads and collapsed bridges, in the terror and devastation of watching communities washed away or buried in mud. In the hopelessness of evacuees praying that they still have a home; that their clothing, their dishes, their favorite couch, the precious pictures of children and grandparents haven’t been reduced to dirty debris. In other measures, such as the extreme heat that is claiming lives across the southern U.S.

Helene, Ian, Katrina, Andrew, Rita, Irma, Michael, Matthew and so many more: Through their deadly winds, driving rains and fatal floods, they are warning us. We are running out of time.

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The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Contact us at insight@orlandosentinel.com.