Hurricane pushes climate change to forefront of presidential campaign

WASHINGTON — 

The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene has brought clime alteration to the forefront of the statesmanlike run aft the contented lingered connected the margins for months.

Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Georgia Wednesday to spot hard-hit areas, 2 days aft her Republican opponent, erstwhile President Donald Trump, was successful the authorities and criticized the national effect to the storm, which has killed astatine slightest 200 radical successful the Southeast. Helene is the deadliest tempest to deed the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina successful 2005.

President Joe Biden toured immoderate of the hardest-hit areas by chopper connected Wednesday and Thursday. Biden, who has often been called connected to survey harm and console victims aft tornadoes, wildfires, tropical storms and different earthy disasters, traveled to the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia to get a person look astatine the hurricane devastation.

"Storms are getting stronger and stronger," Biden said Wednesday aft surveying harm adjacent Asheville, North Carolina. At slightest 70 radical died successful the state.

"Nobody tin contradict the interaction of the clime situation anymore,'' Biden said astatine a briefing successful Raleigh, North Carolina. "They indispensable beryllium encephalon dormant if they do."

Harris, meanwhile, hugged and huddled with a household Wednesday successful hurricane-ravaged Augusta, Georgia.

"There is existent symptom and trauma that resulted due to the fact that of this hurricane'' and its aftermath, Harris said extracurricular a storm-damaged location with downed trees successful the yard.

"We are present for the long-haul,'' she said.

Storm harm forces discussion

The absorption connected the tempest — and its nexus to clime alteration — was notable aft clime alteration was lone lightly mentioned successful 2 statesmanlike debates this year. The candidates alternatively focused connected termination rights, the economy, migration and different issues.

The hurricane featured prominently successful Tuesday's vice-presidential statement arsenic Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz were asked astir the tempest and the larger contented of clime change.

Both men called the hurricane a calamity and agreed connected the request for a beardown national response. But it was Walz, the politician of Minnesota, who enactment the tempest successful the discourse of a warming climate.

"There's nary uncertainty this happening roared onto the country faster and stronger than thing we've seen," helium said.

Bob Henson, a meteorologist and writer with Yale Climate Connections, said it was nary astonishment that Helene is pushing some the national catastrophe effect and human-caused clime alteration into the run conversation.

"Weather disasters are often overlooked arsenic a origin successful large elections,'' helium said. "Helene is simply a sprawling catastrophe, affecting millions of Americans. And it dovetails with respective well-established links betwixt hurricanes and clime change, including accelerated intensification and intensified downpours."

More than 40 trillion gallons of rainfall drenched the Southeast successful the past week, an magnitude that if concentrated successful North Carolina would screen the authorities successful 3 1/2 feet of water. "That's an astronomical magnitude of precipitation," said Ed Clark, caput of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Water Center successful Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Candidates marque claims, antagonistic claims

During Tuesday's debate, Walz credited Vance for past statements acknowledging that clime alteration is simply a problem. But helium noted that Trump has called clime alteration "a hoax" and joked that rising seas "would marque much beachfront spot to beryllium capable to put in."

Trump said successful a code Tuesday that "the satellite has really gotten small spot cooler recently," adding: "Climate alteration covers everything."

In fact, summertime 2024 sweltered to Earth's hottest connected record, making it apt this twelvemonth volition extremity up arsenic the warmest humanity has measured, according to the European clime work Copernicus. Global records were shattered conscionable past twelvemonth arsenic human-caused clime change, with a impermanent boost from an El Niño, keeps dialing up temperatures and utmost weather, scientists said.

Vance, an Ohio senator, said helium and Trump enactment cleanable air, cleanable h2o and "want the situation to beryllium cleaner and safer." However, during Trump's 4 years successful office, helium took a bid of actions to rotation backmost much than 100 biology regulations.

Vance sidestepped a question astir whether helium agrees with Trump's connection that clime alteration is simply a hoax. "What the president has said is that if the Democrats — successful peculiar Kamala Harris and her enactment — truly judge that clime alteration is serious, what they would beryllium doing is much manufacturing and much vigor accumulation successful the United States of America. And that's not what they're doing," helium said.

"This thought that c [dioxide] emissions drives each of the clime change. Well, let's conscionable accidental that's existent conscionable for the involvement of argument. So, we're not arguing astir weird science. If you judge that, what would you privation to do?" Vance asked.

The answer, helium said, is to "produce arsenic overmuch vigor arsenic imaginable successful the United States of America, due to the fact that we're the cleanest system successful the full world.''

Vance claimed that policies by Biden and Harris really assistance China, due to the fact that galore star panels, lithium-ion batteries and different materials utilized successful renewable vigor and electrical vehicles are made successful China and imported to the United States.

Walz rebutted that claim, noting that the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats' signature clime instrumentality approved successful 2022, includes the largest-ever concern successful home cleanable vigor production. The law, for which Harris formed the deciding vote, has created 200,000 jobs crossed the country, including successful Ohio and Minnesota, Walz said. Vance was not successful the Senate erstwhile the instrumentality was approved.

"We are producing much earthy state and much lipid [in the United States] than we ever have," Walz said. "We're besides producing much cleanable energy."

The remark echoed a remark by Harris successful past month's statesmanlike debate. The Biden-Harris medication has overseen "the largest summation successful home lipid accumulation successful past due to the fact that of an attack that recognizes that we cannot implicit trust connected overseas oil," Harris said then.

While Biden seldom mentions it, home fossil substance accumulation nether his medication is astatine an all-time high. Crude lipid accumulation averaged 12.9 cardinal barrels a time past year, eclipsing a erstwhile grounds acceptable successful 2019 nether Trump, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Democrats privation to proceed investments successful renewable vigor specified arsenic upwind and star powerfulness — and not conscionable due to the fact that supporters of the Green New Deal privation that, Walz said.

"My farmers cognize clime alteration is real. They've seen 500-year droughts, 500-year floods back-to-back. But what they're doing is adapting,'' helium said.

"The solution for america is to proceed to determination forward, [accept] that clime alteration is real" and trim reliance connected fossil fuels, Walz said, adding that the medication is doing precisely that.

"We are seeing america becoming an vigor superpower for the future, not conscionable the current'' time, helium said.