Helene: northwest Florida suffers 3rd hurricane in 13 months – 09/29/2024 – Environment

Sue Colson is tired. With the passage of Helene, her city, Cedar Key, in northwest Florida, has just suffered a third hurricane in just over a year. Sitting in a golf cart, the mayor of the municipality observes the houses destroyed by the storm and says that something needs to change.

“We had a big storm in the 19th century and it was a reset. And now we may have to reset this city again,” Colson says. “We should think about restructuring it, maybe it will be different from how it was, but we can’t keep repairing it.”

Cedar Key is an islet in the Gulf of Mexico, connected to the Florida peninsula by a single bridge. Its colorful wooden houses once gave it the appearance of a post office town. But hours after the passage of Helene, which reached category 4 on a scale that goes up to 5, it is difficult to imagine the place as it was before.

On the street closest to the fishing port, the hurricane’s tide and winds destroyed countless homes. Here and there you see dismantled buildings, with the roof torn off and the walls open. Next to them, the most modern residences, built on pillars, remain intact.

In August 2023, Category 3 hurricane Idalia has already caused extensive damage in Cedar Key and the rest of the so-called Big Bend, a sparsely inhabited region of swamps and forests.

A year later, Category 1 Hurricane Debby hit the same area. And now it was Helene.

In 2023, there were 3 major hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, out of a total of 7, and 20 named storms — the fourth highest number since 1950. The one that caused the most damage was Idalia, which hit the west coast of Florida.

Gabe Doty, a city employee in Cedar Key, laments the bad times that have befallen the place where he grew up.

“It breaks my heart to see it like this. We were unlucky,” he says. “Our future is very uncertain. We have lost many businesses. Many houses have disappeared, the market has disappeared. The post office has disappeared. It is a true tragedy, and it will be difficult to rebuild,” he says.

Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organization warned of the risks posed by this Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June to November. The agency highlighted that the region has been recording above-average activity for eight consecutive years.

Climate change, caused by human activities, causes the planet and oceans to become warmer, which leads to more intense and frequent storms.

About 70 miles to the north, the coastal village of Steinhatchee is also bearing the brunt of Helene while still recovering from hurricanes Idalia and Debby.

The wind knocked down trees, electrical poles and damaged houses, but the worst thing was the tide, which reached a height of 2.7 meters in some areas. The force of the water was so great that it tore off dozens of docks on the Steinhatchee River and dragged them dozens of feet inland.

In a bar near the river, Jessie Sellers watches, in anguish, the consequences of the Helene’s passage. His house suffered little damage, but the establishment where he works is full of mud.

“It’s devastating,” he says. “I’m very afraid that this [a repetição de furacões] be the new normal. It’s like they’re testing us, but we’ll survive.”

In Cedar Key, Sue Colson is convinced that the region must learn to live with nature and adapt to the risk of hurricanes.

“We have to invest in things that at least resist water. Maybe it’s not a luxurious house, maybe it’s something that can be swept off the island during a storm,” he reflects. “But we can’t fight it. It’s very sad, but it doesn’t have to be this way. It can be a rebirth.”