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Hurricane

The body of Ethel Freeman, in the wheelchair, was found outside the convention center in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

When Blackness Is a Preexisting Condition

By Commentaries/Opinions, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

How modern disaster relief has hurt African American communities By Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, The New Republic — Ethel Freeman became famous in death, even though no one knew her name. For months, she was one of the many nameless people who lost their lives in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s deadly intersection of race and class. Her son, Herbert Freeman Jr., had successfully rescued the 91-year-old retired school employee from…

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Destruction on the island of Grand Bahama in the Bahamas in the wake of Hurricane Dorian.

Hurricane Dorian Makes Bahamians the Latest Climate-Crisis Victims

By News & Current Affairs

The country has a tiny carbon footprint but carries the burden of being ground zero for global warming. By Erica Moiah James, The New York Times — MIAMI — Whoever thought Dorian might be a good name for a hurricane has some explaining to do. In the Bahamas, when we have to deal with difficulties, we try to make the saddest people among us laugh, knowing that they will return the…

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Hurricane Dorian

Why Hurricane Dorian Defied Forecasts and Sank the Bahamas

By Commentaries/Opinions

The storm evolved swiftly and unpredictably. But it was other weather phenomena that caused Dorian to stall, devastating the island nation. By Eric Niiler, Wired — Jason Dunion has been flying on “hurricane hunter” planes for the past 20 years to collect data on tropical storms. Yet Sunday’s flight into Hurricane Dorian was the first time he had felt the awesome power of a Category 5 storm. Dunion, a scientist at…

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Some Puerto Ricans had to restore downed power lines themselves after Hurricane Maria.

Puerto Rico has not recovered from Hurricane Maria

By News & Current Affairs

By Lauren Lluveras, The Conversation — Puerto Rico was in crisis long before Hurricane Maria hit on Sept. 20, 2017. For years, this U.S. territory had been struggling with debt, economic crisis and drought. In May 2017, the government defaulted on US$73 billion in loans and declared bankruptcy. Then Hurricane Maria slammed the island with 155-mph winds and coastal flooding that rose to 6 feet within 30 minutes of landfall. The storm caused the longest power blackout in…

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