APM Reports



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In Deep: One City's Year of Climate Chaos
by Lauren Rosenthal

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Climate change has long been a threat that loomed in the future, the stuff of computer modeling and expert forecasts, an issue many policymakers treated as a theoretical calamity we wouldn’t confront for years to come. But no longer. Communities across the United States are experiencing the effects of climate change in the here and now. Floods, fires, mudslides and storms — fueled by a warming climate — are devastating homes, towns and lives.



Perhaps no place has endured more than Lake Charles, Louisiana. The city of 85,000 people tucked about halfway between New Orleans and Houston was hit by four federally declared disasters in just nine months. Between August 2020 and May 2021, Lake Charles saw back-to-back hurricanes, a week-long ice storm and a historic flood.



Residents of Lake Charles barely had time to recover from one storm before another one hit. Adding to the problem was a painfully slow response from the federal government and insurance companies. City officials have pleaded with the federal government for help rebuilding, but what they’ve gotten so far is limited.



Experts say we need to prepare for a future where disasters pile up without time to recover, and federal agencies and aid groups can’t keep up. What the people of Lake Charles endured this past year shows us our future.



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"In Deep" is an audio documentary from our colleagues at The Water Main. It is currently airing on public radio stations nationwide and is available from the
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