perfect storm

A situation in which everything seems to go wrong, or become very difficult, at once.

Example:

“The perfect storm? Debt and disaster in Puerto Rico in historical and political context”

— the title of a talk at Fordham University in New York state In recent years, the US territory of Puerto Rico has suffered terrible storms as well as a major debt crisis. The title of the talk in the example here is a play on words: the popular idiom “the perfect storm” refers on a figurative level to the many challenges that Puerto Rico has been facing all at once; and literally, it refers to the hurricanes that have devastated the island.

There are many factors in this Caribbean island’s past that have put it in a weak position politically and financially; but only bad luck and perhaps climate change can be blamed for events such as Hurricane Maria in late 2017.

It is tragic that the US government, which must answer for the well-being of its territory, did not do more to help Puerto Rico and rebuild the island’s infrastructure in a timely fashion. This failure has led to many more deaths than were officially reported.