Tag: Inside Climate News
A ‘gassy’ Alabama coal mine was expanding under a family’s home. After an explosion, two were left critically injured
He’d said he thought his home would explode. He was right.
W.M. Griffice, 78, had told his granddaughter, Kenzie, in the days leading up to March 8 that he felt like his house was going to explode, she recalled.
Company representatives with Oak Grove, a nearby coal mine, had visited Griffice’s home in Adger, a small town 25 miles southwest of Birmingham, multiple times. Once, according to the family, they’d found methane gas in Griffice’s water well, which the mining company capped.
Then there were the loud booms that Griffice heard over and over. Sometimes they were enough to shake the ground underneath his feet, his granddaughter said. It all left Griffice uneasy.
Earlier this month, it happened. As Griffice relaxed in his recliner and his grandson lay in bed, his home exploded, leaving only its small, scorched footprint in the Alabama clay. Read more.
Alabamians Want Public Officials to Mitigate Landslide Risk as Climate Change Makes Extreme Precipitation More Frequent
In Birmingham, residents want two properties shielded from development and turned into parkland. Councilors decided to protect one parcel years ago. The vote never stuck. Read more.
How Racism Flooded Alabama’s Historically Black Shiloh Community
SHILOH COMMUNITY — If it’s been raining, the kids bring two pairs of shoes to the bus stop.
One pair is for before school—for the trek through high water in the historically Black Shiloh community in Coffee County, Alabama.
“They roll their pants legs up, too,” said Otis Andrews, who’s lived in the community nearly all his life.
Once they’ve made it onto the bus, they can change into their second pair, drying out for the school day to come.
“That’s not acceptable,” Andrews said. “It’s really not. They shouldn’t have to do this.”
Shiloh, he explained, is naturally flat. Flooding didn’t start until after the state elevated and expanded U.S. 84. Read more.
Will the Moody Landfill Fire Ever Be Extinguished? The EPA Isn’t So Sure.
Richard Harp couldn’t believe his ears when he learned the massive underground landfill fire near Moody, just a football field away from his home, is still burning and may never be extinguished. Read more.
US Regions Will Suffer a Stunning Variety of Climate-Caused Disasters, Report Finds
Extreme temperatures; worsening wildfires, hurricanes and floods; infrastructure problems; agricultural impacts: The way you experience climate change will depend on where you live. Read more.
The Sound of Rain, the Crackle of Fire Take Victims Back to the Moment of Their Nightmares
Daniel Hill remembers the indelible sounds: how the wind gusted like a dry hurricane, and the trees crackled before bursting into flame, and his neighbors’ propane and well-pressure tanks exploded as the Camp Fire swept through each block of his hometown of Concow.
In the early morning of Nov. 8, 2018, Daniel, with his family and friends, fought the blaze as its flames towered and swirled across their northern California farm. By midday, the fire would kill 85 people in Butte County and incinerate nearly the entire town of
Paradise, population 26,000, becoming the deadliest, most destructive fire in California history.
Disasters split people’s lives apart into a before and an after. Even as they move on, for victims of these disasters, the sounds from those disasters take them right back to the dark moments.
The tanks exploding during the Camp Fire told people their communities would soon become unrecognizable. The disembodied beeping of smoke detectors in piles of rubble after Hurricane Michael marked the destruction. In the aftermath, the familiar morning bustle of a small town disappeared, becoming a troubling silence instead. New sounds like the whine of chainsaws arrived during the rebuilding, which often added to the confusion of a newly unstable world. After the trauma, everyday sounds that once brought comfort — rainfall, the crackle of fire — now brought anguish and pain. Read more.
Also from InsideClimate News’ American Climate Project:
As More-Powerful Hurricanes Batter the Country, Scientists Ask, ‘How Much Worse Did Climate Change Make It?’
