What a month of disasters tells us about climate change
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 August 2023
⏱️ 25 minutes
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Summary
A tropical storm in Southern California. Wildfires in Maui. Record-breaking heat in the Midwest. Climate reporter Brianna Sacks unpacks this summer of extreme weather, and what public officials can do to better prepare for future disasters.
She explains why preparedness is key in vulnerable areas, and why places like California can sometimes get it right while others are still learning. Michelle Boorstein guest hosts.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Reporter Breonna Sachs covers climate disasters for the post, which means, for her, this |
| 0:09.3 | past week has been jarring. |
| 0:11.7 | Yes, it's been, I feel like a year. |
| 0:19.3 | I was in Maui for the devastating wildfires there that, as of now, have killed about |
| 0:27.8 | 115 people, which is the deadliest wildfire in recent US history. |
| 0:36.0 | And then I'm getting text messages from friends in California that this other fire is popping |
| 0:42.3 | up in northern California. |
| 0:43.9 | It was like looking really, really bad. |
| 0:46.0 | And I'm flying home and then there's this hurricane that's casually supposed to be coming |
| 0:51.4 | to California, which has never happened. |
| 0:54.1 | And luckily it went into a tropical storm, but we were all bracing for a massive water |
| 1:02.0 | event, which were not really set up to handle. |
| 1:06.7 | And then we had an earthquake on top of everything else. |
| 1:15.8 | When Breonna got home to Los Angeles and she saw all the rain, there was one person she |
| 1:21.1 | wanted to call right away. |
| 1:22.9 | Well, hi, Patrick. |
| 1:23.9 | Hello. |
| 1:24.9 | How are you this morning? |
| 1:25.9 | Oh, well, I feel like I've gotten a little glimpse into your world with the disaster |
| 1:30.0 | beat living in Death Valley lately. |
| 1:32.8 | I merely thought of my source, Patrick Donnelly, because we had connected earlier this month |
| 1:38.4 | to talk about the York fire, which is still California's largest fire this season at 90,000 |
... |
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