Imelda wasn’t a category anything. It was never a hurricane at all. It barely reached tropical storm intensity in time to collect a name before passing over land and has already disintegrated into post-storm “remnants.” However, following the predictions of many weather models describing the effects of the climate crisis, Imelda has followed a now familiar pattern and turned into a slow-moving tropical depression whose damaging effects come in the form of torrential, sustained rainfall.
Sections of Texas near Houston are expected to collect more than two feet of rainfall before the last of Imelda fades away. In addition, the storm has spawned tornadoes that tore across the region overnight. The National Weather Service continues to warn of life-threatening flash flood conditions and cautions residents in the area to avoid travel on flooded streets. Residents in four counties have been told to “shelter in place” and be prepared in case rising flood waters trap their in their homes.
Among the areas being inundated by Imelda are some of the same neighborhoods that were flooded in 2017, when Hurricane Harvey dropped similarly enormous rains on the region. The neighborhoods most at risk, then and now, are often those of the working class, in locations where the local government has not spent millions to provide protection from flooding. Some areas are suffering flooding considerably worse than that experienced during Harvey due to locally heavy rains overwhelming streams and drains.
It’s a reminder that the events following the devastating hurricane season of 2017 were far from unique. This type of storm, and this type of flooding, is likely to become ever more frequent, especially in coastal areas that are already suffering from sea level rise, the erosion of barrier islands, and the loss of coastal lowlands.
And it’s a reminder that the idea of a “climate refugee” doesn’t have to mean someone trying to enter the United States from a distant land ravaged by the climate crisis. It’s happening to many such people who already live in America.