Hurricane season 2019: Most Americans think storms are getting worse, study says
Nearly three-fourths of U.S. adults think destructive weather events such as hurricanes are getting worse, but many Americans don’t have an adequate plan in place to deal with them, according to a joint study by the IBM-owned Weather Company and Morning Consult.
Roughly three-fourths of Americans, or 74 percent of respondents, said they think weather events are getting more severe. Despite that belief, 42 percent said they don’t have an evacuation plan, and roughly half of all Americans said they don’t have a preparedness kit of essential supplies.
Early projections call for the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season to produce three major hurricanes and 14 named storms, according to the Weather Company. While that level of activity is down slightly compared to last year, the potential for powerful storms still exists.
“The combination of El Niño conditions and warm Atlantic waters suggest a near-normal season that is similar to last year,” said Dr. Todd Crawford, chief meteorologist for the Weather Company. “Much like the 2017 weather pattern that produced Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Michael, there is still the potential for intense tropical cyclones in 2019.”
Recent hurricane season have produced some of the most destructive storms in history. Last summer, Hurricane Florence caused an estimated $24 billion in damage across three states and resulted in 52 direct or indirect fatalities, according to the Associated Press. The previous year, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma caused tens of billions of dollars in damage while devastating the Gulf Coast and Puerto Rico, respectively.
Roughly 40 percent of Americans have encountered weather events that caused property damage or forced them to evacuate their homes, according to the poll. About 20 percent said they had to do so within the last five years. Most respondents said they rely on the local news and their smartphones for news on bad weather.
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The survey drew results from 2,200 adult Americans who participated in online interviews on April 28 and April 29. The study had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.