FEMA chief: Severe storms ‘new normal’
Powerful storms like the tornadoes that killed dozens in five states on Friday are “the new normal,” Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Deanne Criswell said Sunday.
“The effects we are seeing of climate change are the crisis of our generation,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“We’re taking a lot of efforts at FEMA to work with communities to help reduce the impacts that we’re seeing from these severe weather events and help to develop systemwide projects that can help protect communities.”
A swarm of huge tornadoes struck the Midwest and South on Friday into Saturday, a phenomenon that Criswell called “unprecedented” for December.
Scientists are trying to nail down how climate change might affect the frequency of tornadoes.
President Biden said Saturday the Environmental Protection Agency would investigate the matter.
“One word: remarkable. Unbelievable would be another,” said Northern Illinois University meteorology Prof. Victor Gensini. “It was really a late-spring type of setup in the middle of December.”
Criswell was set Sunday to visit Kentucky, where rescuers are searching for survivors in destroyed homes.
“I think there is still hope, right?” said Criswell, the former commissioner of New York City’s Emergency Management Office. “We sent one of our federal urban search-and-rescue teams down to Kentucky. They arrived yesterday. They’ll be able to assist the localities with their ongoing rescue efforts. I think there is still hope, and we should continue to try to find as many people as we can.”
The Bluegrass State reeled from the devastation over the weekend.
“We’ve lost more than 80 Kentuckians. That number is going to exceed more than 100,” said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.