Flooding during virus outbreak will test red state mettle

Human-caused climate catastrophes are wreaking havoc on already-stressed systems in red states where Republican governors have fallen down on infrastructure improvements.

According to the US Army Corps of Engineers even though all of 2019's floodwater has passed through the dam system on the Missouri River 2020's deluge is just beginning yet the Corps has cancelled all public meetings in early April because of a virus outbreak.

For local leaders in the Midwest, this situation is offering a crash course in how to plan and respond to multiple types of disasters simultaneously. And in a warming world, overlapping and compounding disasters will likely be the new normal. In some areas, the distribution of premade sandbags to vulnerable communities has already started to avoid a last-minute rush if and when catastrophe strikes. There’s a big range in how prepared Mississippi River communities are for juggling the disasters, according to their mayors. Even the ones that said they were currently prepared expressed uncertainty about the future. [Zahra Hirji, BuzzFeed News]

For Midwestern leaders, the threat of coronavirus & flooding is offering a crash course in how to plan & respond to multiple types of disasters simultaneously.

In a warming world, overlapping & compounding disasters will likely be the new normal.https://t.co/PhIciHlRgw

— Zahra Hirji (@Zhirji28) March 23, 2020