Contrary to much commentary, America’s response to Hurricane Harvey has so far been good. It is tragic but remarkable that fewer than 40 people have lost their lives in Houston and its environs, given the scale of the disaster. The death toll is likely to rise but the contrast with South Asia, where more than 1,200 have died from flooding, is yawning. The US federal disaster response system picked up valuable lessons from the debacle of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, such as deferring to authorities on the ground and drawing on the knowledge of local volunteers.
Alas, the same cannot be said of America’s approach to disaster preparedness. Though Harvey is classified as a once-in-500-year flood, this is the third time Houston has been blighted with freak rainfall in as many years. Global warming is real. From the Indian monsoon to America’s hurricane season, extreme weather is becoming more common. Unless we sharply cut carbon emissions, and build more resilient systems to cope with their effects, the cost of such disasters will keep mounting.
Prevention is cheaper than cure. With each degree-Celsius rise in the global temperature, there is a 7 per cent increase in the atmosphere’s capacity to hold water. That means more extreme storms and floods. Though no specific natural disaster can be solely attributed to global warming, there is no doubt it boosts their frequency and severity. It was thus reckless of Donald Trump’s administration to pull out of the Paris agreement on climate change earlier this year.