WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — As federal leaders spearhead a recovery effort for communities hit by Hurricane Helene, they’re also thinking about how to prevent devastation in future natural disasters.
The Biden administration says rebuilding has to be done with climate resilience in mind.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says the federal government is pouring resources into the areas impacted by the storm.
“This is going to be a long journey, but that’s exactly why the work has been underway for day one,” Buttigieg said.
In remarks about the hurricane, President Joe Biden also talked about the bigger picture.
“Storms like Helene are getting stronger and stronger,” President Biden said. “Nobody can deny the impact of climate crisis anymore. At least I hope they don’t. They must be brain dead if they do.”
White House Advisor Tom Perez says the impacts of climate change are intensifying.
“We are having these conversations in places like Florida not every hundred years, but with great frequency,” Perez said.
The Biden administration says that’s why their plan is to rebuild communities hurt by Helene with an eye toward increasing threats.
“Our immediate focus is to make sure people get that help that they need. But we’re also working to make sure that we’re smarter for the long term so that our infrastructure is more resilient,” Buttigieg said.
Secretary Buttigieg says they’re working on ways to blunt the effects of severe weather.
“Better evacuation routes for future hurricanes, or materials that are better able to withstand a storm, or moving things to higher ground,” Buttigieg said.
He predicts more disasters are just around the corner.
“Hopefully never something as devastating as Helene, but we know that there’s more where this came from coming towards the United States, which is why we need to build and design in a resilient way,” Buttigieg said.
He also says they have a head start on that because of funding earmarked for climate resiliency in the infrastructure package passed back in 2021.
