Hurricane Francine landed in southern Louisiana on 11th September 2024 as a Category 2 hurricane, loading 100 mph gusts and producing a torrential water flow in coastal villages. The surge could move inshore unaffected because so much of south Louisiana is at or below sea level. The most current hurricane to harm the state was Ida in 2021, which unbound a catastrophic storm surge, causing $75 billion in damage and killing 55 people.

“Storm surges are extremely dangerous,” says hurricane expert Brian McNoldy. “The force of the storm winds thrusts the ocean onto the land, leaving it with no escape route.” Scientists are aware that the storm surge threats along the Gulf Coast will be exacerbated due to several intersecting factors. Climate change is spurring the frequency and intensity of hurricanes while also hoisting sea levels. Besides, the coastline between Louisiana and Texas is disrupted in some places, a process known as subsidence.

Every slight elevation loss climbs sea level rise and storm surges, yet projections have long disregarded subsidence due to a lack of data. This could stipulate that some areas of the Gulf Coast are misjudging the possible effect. Between 1932 and 2016, Louisiana’s coastal communities lost about 2,000 square kilometres of land due to rising sea levels and subsidence. The state’s wetlands offer a natural buffer against storm surges. However, the ecosystems may be nearing collapse.

Warmer waters in the Gulf of Mexico have aided Francine’s development into a powerful storm. Hurricane Francine functions like an atmospheric engine. Its fuel is warm ocean water that evaporates and liberates energy into the atmosphere. If the wind conditions are suitable, the storm will spin up and move over the water. And if the sea in its path is very warm, the fuel is more powerful, permitting a hurricane to grow into a monster. “They can start to proliferate under hot sea surface temperatures,” said Daniel Gilford, a hurricane researcher with Climate Central, a nonprofit research organisation. “Almost like when your foot hits the accelerator and that fuel pours into your engine to ignite.”

According to the Public Service Commission, 450,000 people in Louisiana lost power during the storm’s peak. Many of the outages were due to falling debris rather than structural deface. According to officials, some 500 people were for the time being housed in emergency refuge.

The storm soaked the northern Gulf Coast. Rainfall could reach 6 inches in areas of Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Georgia and up to 10 inches in Alabama and Florida. Flash floods threatened communities as far away as Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; and Memphis, Tennessee.

Also Read: Rising Sea Levels Will Disrupt Millions Of Americans’ Lives By 2050: Study