From Florence to Mangkhut, How Unprepared Are We?

FEATURING PETER MILLER – Floodwaters continue to rise across North Carolina and surrounding states as Hurricane Florence dumps rain day after day on the Atlantic Coast. So far the death toll has reached 17 – including a 3-month old infant. The road to Wilmington, North Carolina has been cut off.

A coal ash landfill run by Duke Energy collapsed over the weekend from the heavy rains of the hurricane, raising the risk of contaminated storm waters running into nearby lakes and rivers. Associated Press also reported of, “several flooded hog farms along the Trent River.” There is also a fear of dams bursting from the flooding. North Carolina has thousands of dams and about 1,400 of them are considered “high hazard.”

Meteorologists are saying that, “the worst is yet to come,” and that people should expect more flooding. In the Pacific, Typhoon Mangkhut slammed into the Philippines before hitting the south coast of China. A total of 66 people have been killed.

Peter Miller, Western Energy Project Director with the Energy and Transportation Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).