How Americans affected by extreme weather events feel about the future

The punishing heat hitting much of the U.S. this week, and the downpour that Hawaii is enduring, are just the latest in what has been a relentless drumbeat of extreme weather this summer. We spoke with people in different parts of the country about the impacts of these events and how they’re thinking about the future.

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Amna Nawaz: The punishing heat hitting much of the U.S. this week and the downpour that Hawaii is enduring are just the latest in what’s been a relentless summer of extreme weather.

We spoke to people in different parts of the country about the impacts of these events and how they’re thinking about the future.

Katie Swick, Vermont Resident: Six, eight inches of rain in 24 hours. We’re just — we’re not used to that.

Ben Nguyen, Texas Resident: We bought a generator. And I never thought I would need a generator after living here for 40 years.

Beverly Blackwell Bowen, North Carolina Resident: As a farmer, this year has been a very difficult year.

Liz Leivas, Arizona Resident: Right now, in the triple digits that we’re hitting, it’s a danger to be outside between 11:00 and 3:00 p.m.

My name is Liz Leivas. I live in Tempe, Arizona.

Katie Swick: My name is Katie Swick, and I live in Montpelier, Vermont.

Ben Nguyen: My name is Ben Nguyen, and I live in Houston, Texas.

Beverly Blackwell Bowen, North Carolina Resident: My name is Beverly Blackwell Bowen from Reidsville, North Carolina.

Juan Declet-Barreto, Union of Concerned Scientists: My name is Juan Declet-Barreto. I’m a senior social scientist for climate Vulnerability with the Union of Concerned Scientists. Danger season is the term that we use at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

It starts in May, ends in October. The concerns around danger season are the increased frequency of extreme weather events that can occur back to back that can threaten the population an almost regular basis. By May 7, almost 33 percent of the population had been under at least one extreme weather alert.

This number jumped to 50 percent, nearly 170 million people, by May 20. And by June 22, that number had reached 95 percent. That’s very, very concerning.

Liz Leivas: My family has been here for generations beyond when this place was a state or even a territory. And I grew up outside playing outside. But right now, you don’t see kids playing outside.

I am eight months pregnant. And one of the things that I discussed with my doctor when my feet started swelling is,how can I reduce it or what’s causing it? And so my doctor shared with me, well, the heat will actually cause it to swell. So, if you’re starting to swell now, and I was maybe three or four months in, they’re going to be swollen, my feet, for the rest of the pregnancy.

And that was really hard to accept. And so I ended up buying little ice packs that I wrap around my feet for the swelling.

Katie Swick: Last July, my home received 32 inches of water on the first floor. We spent the next days and days emptying everything out of the home and piling it into the front yard. And then…

There goes the blue chair.

… a few weeks later, watching it get all taken away by big cranes and dumpsters.

In December, the basement flooded again three feet. And then this past July, the basement flooded again. Having to figure out how to pay a mortgage and rent and get that money from FEMA, I have just spent so much time and energy trying to recover and not feel like — instead of a disaster happening to me and not feeling like becoming the disaster.

Ben Nguyen: As a property manager in Houston, taking care of single-family residential homes, we are managing things like sinks and doors needing to be adjusted and small repairs. But over the last two years, we have shifted into this disaster recovery company, where we’re going out, taking care of roofs and power outages, electrical surges, floods, you name it.

It’s been very challenging. We’re shifting from living and enjoying to preparing and bracing. All of that really just affects quality of life at the end of the day, how much we spend enjoying looking out the window versus stressed about packing a to-go bag. None of that is exciting and fun.

Beverly Blackwell Bowen: If I just look at the month of July alone,8 we had 20 or more days of 90-plus degree. On top of the heat, we also had a drought condition.

With the hurricane that came through on August 8, we got probably a little over eight inches of rain. I have been out there now on the farm eight years. I have had to deal through tornado to storms. So it’s a challenge. It’s very difficult.

Juan Declet-Barreto: One of the most sobering things that scientists have said is that we are not looking at the worst of climate change, but we are looking at the minimum sort of impacts that we will see during our lifetime and during the lifetime of our children.

Liz Leivas: Arizona is in my blood. It is my roots. My family has been here for generations. Although it is hot, I would never want to live where it is cold. I love the state. I love where I live.

But it’s just — it’s getting harder to stay.

Katie Swick: I’m finding it very hard to make a decision of tearing down a 140-year-old house, or I elevate it and move back in and have to deal with fixing it up for the next two years. Is it going to be high enough for the next time it happens? I think about these things too much. It wakes you up in the middle of the night wondering what to do.

Ben Nguyen: Not once have I considered moving, until this year when the derecho and Hurricane Beryl came through. Seeing the power outages, seeing the damage on the homes, seeing the excessive heat where A.C.s can’t keep up anymore, it sparked me and my partner to look somewhere else to live.

And we just recently put an offer down in a house in the Seattle-Tacoma area. And we’re looking to make a big shift and a big move because we want the stability back.

Beverly Blackwell Bowen: I don’t see an ending at all, because each year it continues to get progressively worse. You have got to be proactive. You have got to be resilient. And you pretty much have to think outside of the box now.

And how do we as farmers sustain long term? I don’t have the answers to it. And it’s very stressful to even think about.