IN the wake of typhoon “Ompong” and hurricane “Florence,” two powerful storms that hit the Philippines and eastern United States at the same time last Saturday, many scientists have renewed their warnings that climate change has made storms more violent and more dangerous.
“Ompong” hit Cagayan and Isabela in Northern Luzon, its center making landfall at about 1:40 a.m. with 220-kilometers per hour (kph) winds, gusting up to 305 kph. Over 60 people were confirmed dead and some 50 others missing as of Sunday. Eight provinces suffered extensive damage to power lines, homes, and buildings, causing landslides and flooding farms. People filled evacuation centers as far south as Palawan.
On the other side of the globe, at about the same time, hurricane “Florence” bore down on North and South Carolina, forcing hundreds of thousands to leave their homes and seek shelter in schools and churches. Five people were killed before “Florence” was downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved inland. Ensuing floods soon raised the death toll to 17.
While some meteorologists and scientists remained cautious about attributing “Florence” to a single cause like global warming, the Associated Press said most of the scientists it interviewed were certain about the connection. “Human-supercharged storms are becoming more common and destructive as the planet warms,” said Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the environment school at the University of Michigan.
In the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, over 200 countries, including the Philippines, pledged to take action, each within its capabilities, to reduce their industrial emissions of carbon dioxide which have been blamed for the steady increase in world temperatures. This, in turn, has melted glaciers in the arctic regions, raising ocean levels. Typhoons and hurricanes originating from the hotter oceans have become more powerful.
“Ompong” and “Florence” are the latest of these storms which appear to be carrying out the predictions of worsening weather in the coming years. Ironically, the US, the second worst polluter of the atmosphere with its industries, rejected the Paris Agreement when new President Donald Trump assumed office in 2016. China, the world’s highest emitter of heat-trapping greenhouse gasses, now leads the worldwide effort agreed upon in Paris, together with the European nations.
From the Philippines, “Ompong” crossed the South China Sea and vented its renewed fury on Hong Kong and the other cities in China’s coastal areas before dissipating in the vast landmass of Asia. “Florence” similarly will lose strength as it moves further inland on the American continent.
Many more “Ompongs” and “Florences” are likely to hit the earth before the efforts of the signatories of the Paris Agreement will have any substantial effect. But the efforts must continue and we hope that they are at least mitigating what could be even worse storms that have begun to strike with greater frequency.
