Even before Hurricane Helene struck the Florida coast with Category 4 winds, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (better known as NOAA) and its subsidiaries – the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center – were already busy saving lives.

Local emergency officials, echoing NOAA’s dire forecasts, spurred mass evacuations on the Gulf Coast and warned of 20-foot storm surges that may not be “survivable.” The sudden strengthening of this hurricane, fed by Gulf waters made warmer by climate change, triggered, in NOAA’s words, “catastrophic, life-threatening inland flooding” that will likely extend all the way to the western mountains of North Carolina.

The federal agency says it’s just doing its job: “Climate, weather, and water affect all life on our ocean planet. NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict our changing environment, from the deep sea to outer space, and to manage and conserve America’s coastal and marine resources.”

Bravo to NOAA and all the other government........

© Yuma Sun