Effects of climate

Helene's power proof of "effects of climate change" Tampa's mayor says

From CNN's Eric Zerkel

Helene flooded “several thousand” homes with feet of storm surge in the Tampa area, the city’s mayor told CNN’s Jim Acosta, while also counting the city’s relative luck compared to other places in the direct path of a storm fueled by climate change.

“I don’t know that there’s anyone that anyone can deny the effects of climate change on the sheer power of the storms we’re seeing now,” Tampa mayor Jane Castor told Acosta on CNN Newsroom. “And the quickness of them: We had three days, and we were hit by Helene.”

Helene rapidly intensified into a Category 4 Hurricane in the exceptionally warm water of the Gulf of Mexico. It was the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region.

Scientists have previously said that more hurricanes are rapidly intensifying, particularly ahead of landfall, as the atmosphere warms from fossil fuel pollution giving residents less time to prepare.

“These storms just in the last year or so, gain speed and power so quickly,” said Castor. “And the breadth of Helene, just the sheer width and the effect it had, it never came closer than 120 miles from our coast and look at the devastation you saw here.”

The mayor said the greater Tampa Bay Area is still working to clear out streets and homes choked with sand and water from the storm surge.