Hurricane triggers ‘catastrophic’ US floods, dozens reported dead, millions without power

With typhoon Yagi battering Asia, storm Boris drenching Europe, and extreme flooding in the Sahel, September so far has been an unusually wet month around the world.
Scientists link some extreme weather events to human-caused global warming.
“Helene travelled over exceptionally warm ocean waters in the Gulf of Mexico,” Andra Garner, a climate scientist at Rowan University in New Jersey, told AFP.
“It’s likely that those extra-warm ocean waters played a role in Helene’s rapid intensification.
“We also know that storm surges from hurricanes are getting worse because our sea levels are rising as we warm the planet.”
Curtis Drafton, a search and rescue volunteer, 48, in Steinhatchee, Florida raised similar concerns on the ground as he tackled the storm’s aftermath.
“We have got to start wondering: is this the new normal? Is it going to happen every year?” he told AFP.
“We have a lot of talk about once-in-a-lifetime storm, but we had one similar last year.
“We had a 9-foot storm surge, two feet over my head plus a little bit more. This dock here got shredded.”