Ready Or Not - Here Comes Hurricane Season!
Experts Predict A “Normal Hurricane Season”
Hurricane season starts June 1 and officially lasts until the end of November. This year the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts a normal hurricane season. That still means we could see from 12-17 named storms, including up to nine major storms. The wild card in all this is the arrival of the El Nino System, which can heat up water in the Pacific Ocean, but tends to reduce the intensity of Atlantic Ocean hurricanes when they get into the Gulf of Mexico. The experts say Houston’s hurricane season will be determined by when the El Nino System emerges.
Be Prepared No Matter What
It only takes one hurricane to turn your life upside down. Remember, 2017 was also predicted to be a “normal” hurricane season and it produced Hurricane Harvey! The best advice is to be ready for whatever the Gulf throws at us.
Harris County has a number of valuable resources online.
The Hurricane/Toxic Waste Connection
We can’t forget that this area is especially vulnerable to toxic chemical exposure resulting from hurricanes, and that the threat is increasing as climate change spurs heavier rains and higher sea levels.
A study by the Federal General Accountability Office (GAO) warned that natural disasters increase the threat of chemical releases. It found that more than half the sites that could be impacted were in Texas. The GAO also produced an interactive map that shows the threat to superfund sites, especially here in the Houston area.
A study by the Federal General Accountability Office (GAO) warned that natural disasters increase the threat of chemical releases. It found that more than half the sites that could be impacted were in Texas. The GAO also produced an interactive map that shows the threat to superfund sites, especially here in the Houston area.
San Jacinto River = Ground Zero
The hurricane threat is one of the reasons we are pushing so hard for the EPA to fully remediate the San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund Site.
This drone footage, courtesy of Greg Moss, was taken at the San Jacinto site after Hurricane Harvey. It shows how the high water and the scouring from the river’s high velocity submerged the containment area and ripped into the temporary protective tarp. It exposed chemicals at the site and an EPA dive team found cancer-causing dioxin levels in the river water that were more than 2,000 times higher than maximum recommended levels.
We’ve achieved major progress with the cleanup operations that started at the Southern Pit of the site in November, but we still need to push the responsible parties and the EPA to remove all of the contaminated material in the Northern Pit. Each passing hurricane season presents a new threat at San Jacinto and the other Superfund Sites in Harris County.