More than two days after Hurricane Otis slammed into Acapulco, Mexico, as a Category 5 hurricane with 165 mph winds, the full scope of the horrific damage it wrought was only gradually emerging. Communications with the region remain limited, power is mostly out, many roads are still blocked, and the airport has been heavily damaged. The death toll stands at 27 and will surely rise.
Damage from Otis is going to reach many billions of dollars. Catastrophe risk modeling firm CoreLogic estimated that insured damages from Otis would be $10-$15 billion USD. This includes only residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural structures; government property, infrastructure, crops, and livestock were not included in this estimate, and neither were storm surge or flash flood damage. If this estimate is accurate, it is possible that Otis could challenge the $22 billion cost (2022 USD) of Typhoon Mirelle in Japan from 1991 as the most expensive non-U.S. tropical cyclone in history.
We’ve unleashed a monster and there’s no stopping it.
Worse, we keep on feeding it as it gains strength.
“We’ll adapt to that….”
I’m headlining the adaptation meme today yet …
Adaptation is how we learn, and survive. Yes, I have a bad attitude about Big Oil’s tuning it into a meme but the truth is we don’t have any choice in the matter. We will adapt, or die
You may already know this, but I am the self-described “Abandonment Asshole” who pushes people to leave their familiar and beloved communities sooner rather than later, and not waste money and resources trying to restore flooded houses that remain at heightened risk.
Makes perfect sense to me, though I lean more to houses built where they can burn