Miami Mayor: ‘If This Isn’t Climate Change, I Don’t Know What Is’

Hurricane Irma churned over southwest Florida Sunday, leaving over half the state without power, causing at least five deaths and creating widespread flooding and destruction. While the storm has weakened since making landfall and avoided directly hitting Miami and Tampa, the National Hurricane Center still advises “life threatening” conditions along the Florida coastline.

Despite Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s vociferous involvement in preparing the state for Irma and publicly urging evacuations, his past climate change denial and avoidance of climate-related preparations before Irma has drawn criticism. Other officials, including Miami mayor Tomás Pedro Regalado and French president Emmanuel Macron, have directly linked the storm to climate change.

“This is the time to talk about climate change,” Regaldo told the Miami Herald. “This is the time that the president and the EPA and whoever makes decisions needs to talk about climate change.”

For a deeper dive:

Storm: ABC, Washington Post $, New York Times $, NPR, BBC, Bloomberg

Tampa: Washington Post $, Bloomberg

Scott: Washington Post $, New York Times $

Macron: Reuters

Regaldo: Miami Herald

Commentary: Palm Beach Post editorial.

Background: Climate Signals