In September, the Category 4 Hurricane Helene pummeled Southeast U.S. resulting in 232 fatalities, making it the deadliest on the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina twenty years ago. Severe flooding and high winds destroyed homes and infrastructure, devastating vulnerable communities in some of the most rural and impoverished parts of the country.
Climate change will continue to bring catastrophic and deadly extreme weather events to our coast, impacting low-income communities and communities of color the hardest. Northern Manhattan is particularly vulnerable as many communities are in flooding zones. After Hurricane Ida took the lives of 13 New Yorkers in 2021, WE ACT’s Climate Justice Working Group members felt an urgent need to prioritize emergency preparedness to protect their family, friends, neighbors, and community from deadly impacts of extreme weather. That’s why we partnered with East Harlem COAD and Harlem Emergency Network to create our award-winning Climate Ready Uptown Plan (CRUP).
At a time where we may not be able to rely on the federal government to mitigate climate disasters, it is crucial that community members work to keep each other safe. CRUP helps Northern Manhattan community members understand their individual risk to climate related disasters – specifically extreme heat, coastal and stormwater flooding – and provides pertinent information to help prepare themselves and their families. In 2024, WE ACT’s Climate Justice Working Group has held workshops reaching over 300 community members helping prepare them for such emergencies.
Giving Tuesday is next week and we need 25 new Environmental Justice Sustainers to join to meet our goals for 2025. Supporters like you make possible WE ACT’s work to prepare our communities for extreme heat and flooding. Will you make a gift today to help protect Northern Manhattan residents from deadly impacts of climate change?
