As Puerto Rico struggles for its very existence, 2016 reports from University of Puerto Rico scientists characterized the island as the "canary in the coal mine" for climate change.
Since 2010, the average sea levels around the island have increased at a rate 10 times faster than the historical rate—an increase of about 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) per year. While the change might seem small, the resulting coastal erosion has caused significant property damage and flooding.
Folks living in the coastal village of Loiza had already begun adapting to floods from sea level rise, using milk crates and bricks to hold up their furniture and adding second floors to their concrete homes so they could live above encroaching sea water. Large sections of the town had already fallen in the sea,
“Our community is quite scared,” said community leader Alexi Correa back in 2016. “We’re not sure what’s going to happen on a day-to-day basis and not quite sure what is going to happen to our houses or the area if the erosion keeps coming.”
Since 1901, the waters around Puerto Rico have warmed by nearly two degrees. Along its coast rests important and historical infrastructure that is at risk not only from rising sea levels that will invade the land and an increase flooding, but also from stronger tropical storms and hurricanes. Rainfall during heavy storms has increased 33 percent since 1958, a trend that the EPA notes will continue. An increase in rainfall during storms will mean that inland rivers will overtop and low-lying areas will be flooded. EPA
Loiza After Maria
“We have nothing. Nothing, nothing. There is nothing,” said 35-year-old Alana Pizarro, who stood ankle-deep in muddy water like a sentinel in Loíza, a beach town whose side streets flooded as far as one could see. Reaching the ocean seemed impossible.
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Desperate for help, a family invited reporters into two of their homes: one where the zinc roof blew off, exposing everything to the elements and leaving a wooden bed imploded; and another with two stories, now housing three generations of dispossessed families: the Riveras, Lozadas and De Jesúses. The only part left standing of an adjacent zinc shed was the exposed plumbing. Outside San Juan after Hurricane Maria, unrelenting water imperils Puerto Ricans
Maria’s devastation of Puerto Rico could be the first US experience of massive migrations of people forced from homes which are no longer habitable due to the impacts of global warming: Earlier this week, Puerto Rico’s Governor Ricardo Rossello suggested that millions of residents might need to migrate to the mainland without “ unprecedented relief” from the Federal government.
Climate Migrations
- Estimates indicate one person every second has been displaced by a disaster since 2009
- 24 million people have been displaced from their homes due to extreme weather events and disasters over the past six years
- By 2050, 300 million people could be displaced from their homes due to the impacts of climate change
In Africa, climate change forced an estimated 1 millionpeople to leave their homes in 2015; in the Pacific, the World Bank has urgedAustralia and New Zealand to open their doors to residents forced off small island nations such as Tuvalu and Kiribati. Even in Syria, internal migration sparked by a historic drought contributed to the civil war, which has added to the wave of people trying to enter Europe in recent years.
Support Puerto Rico Relief Efforts:
“Obviously, the Puerto Rican people have immediate needs for food, water, fuel, and medical care,’ writes Post Carbon Institute’s Richard Heinberg. “We mainland Americans should be doing all we can to make sure that help reaches those in the throes of crisis. But Puerto Ricans—all Americans, indeed all humans—should be thinking longer-term about what kind of society is sustainable and resilient in this time of increasing vulnerability to disasters of all kinds.”
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