Billion-Dollar Thunderstorms in Florida? Thanks, Climate Change
Global warming is turning previously mundane weather events into potential catastrophes, and human behavior isn’t helping.
When it rains, it pours now.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
When you hear the phrase “billion-dollar disaster,” you probably think of something epic and nightmarish, like a Category 5 hurricane or a mammoth wildfire. But climate change means the next mega-destructive event could be something as mundane as a rainstorm.
Large swaths of South Florida were underwater this week after the sky turned into a firehose that flooded Miami and dumped 10 inches of rain on Fort Lauderdale in a day. It was the worst rainstorm in Fort Lauderdale … since the one in April 2023 that dumped more than 2 feet of rain in a day. That earlier storm did more than $1 billion in damage, and this one probably will, too. Governor Ron DeSantis, who has outlawed talking about climate change, declared a state of emergency in four Florida counties. Flights were canceled and parts of I-95 were closed.