Global warming, primarily caused by burning fossil fuels, is becoming more difficult to deny. Record-breaking temperatures, increased wildfires and coastal regions hard hit by hurricanes are becoming the norm. The insurance companies are pulling out of states like California and Florida due to the high cost of covering the destruction and the diminishing profits now lending to losses caused by climate and weather. If the insurance companies do not make sufficient profit, they get to walk away from the market. So much for the free market solving our economic situations. The for-profit insurance companies get to ignore the problem and leave it up to government (our tax dollars) to clean up the mess. And what a mess it is. The National Flood Insurance Program insures approximately 5 million policies and paid out, in 2022 alone, $3.9 billion.
In the early 1900s, there were fewer than 25 worldwide natural disasters yearly. Now, the yearly count is more than 400. Climate-fueled disasters cost the U.S. $165 billion in just 2022. Between 1980 and 2022, the U.S. has sustained 341 weather and climate disasters with a cumulative cost of over $2.475 trillion. Texas leads in the U.S. with $380 billion spent on weather events, Florida is second with $370 billion and Louisiana is third with $290 billion spent.
So, snowbirds, forget about heading south anywhere from California to Florida. If you insist on going, you might consider living in a trailer. That way, when extreme weather hits, you can move your home to a safer location to avoid losing everything.
Patricia Oliver
North Huntingdon