after hurricanes. School systems, already with aging buildings and deferred maintenance are often left uniquely vulnerable in the aftermath.No one disaster can be linked directly to climate change, but experts agree that extreme weather events, like the downpours that shattered rainfall records in Eastern Kentucky, are becoming more common as the atmosphere warms.
“Essentially climate change is loading the dice, so it’s making it more likely that we’ll have these major extreme events more frequently,” said Bill Haneberg, director of the Kentucky Geological Survey and Kentucky’s state geologist, noting that these extreme meteorological events — such as thethat ripped through western Kentucky, killing 81 — have occurred across the commonwealth.
Kentucky’s experience as cleanup and recovery efforts continue offers a glimpse of what is awaiting other regions. The damage to Ophelia’s school, West Whitesburg Elementary, was so extensive that its roughly 430 students were moved into Letcher County Central High School. School opening was delayed more than a month.
Carter, Ophelia’s mom, often feels anxious in her apartment and is struggling with what she saw during the flood. She wants to move her family to higher ground, and she’s even questioning whether she wants to remain in Whitesburg, she said. But when she considers moving, she said nowhere feels safe.In Perry County, another area devastated by flooding, two elementary schools were consolidated into a school building, AB Combs, that had closed five years ago because of population declines.
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