More Than Rain

Kristian Pikner, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

By Geoff Carter

Southeastern Wisconsin had a relatively quiet and dry summer—up until last week. On Saturday, torrential downpours dumped up to four inches of rain in some areas, causing flash floods. Then, on Tuesday evening, a strong line of severe thunderstorms crossed into the area, ushering in fifty mile an hour winds gusting up to seventy miles an hour, uprooting trees, blowing down power lines, and causing widespread damage. As a result, over 225,000 We Energy customers were without power; some of them went without air conditioning or refrigeration for up to ninety-six hours.

As of Friday morning, several thousand customers still had not had their power restored. 

According to Tom Metcalfe, president of We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, the recovery effort from the storm has been the most massive ever faced by the company. “Our crews are encountering major damage,” Metcalfe said. “A lot of our system is down and is going to take a major rebuild of many portions of our network.” (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Aug. 11, 2021)

The Milwaukee DPW and Fire Department were nearly overwhelmed by damage from fallen trees and downed power lines. The MFD alone received 266 calls that evening, and firefighters faced extreme difficulties battling a house fire in the UWM neighborhood because of downed trees. 

In the Riverwest neighborhood, surprisingly massive trees were toppled like so many dominoes. People were overheard complaining about the wait time for power repair, comparing it to being “in a third-world country.” This was an unusually powerful storm but don’t expect them to be so uncommon anymore. Climate change has arrived.

This weather event happened to arrive close on the heels of a United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report stating that climate change is becoming dangerously close to being an irreversible condition. Monstrous hurricanes, extreme drought, glacier disappearance, heat waves, and other weather extremes—including historically destructive thunderstorms—are becoming more and more commonplace. Hundreds of thousands of acres are burning in California wildfires. Venice was hit by a surprise “unseasonal flood”. UN Secretary-General Antonio Gueterres termed the report “a code red for humanity.” 

The report stated that human actions have “unequivocally” caused climate change and while some effects might be reversible, others are not and will only become more severe as time goes on. As if this wasn’t enough, another report warned that the collapse of the Gulf Stream might be imminent. This would be a catastrophic event, causing widespread drought affecting crop production for millions, increasing storms, and increasing the sea level on North American coasts.

Bigger and more intense hurricanes, rising waters, drought, famine, and flooding have all seemed a little remote to us here in Wisconsin. Until now, that is. While our area has always been susceptible to cataclysmic tornadoes and harsh blizzards and paralyzing ice storms, we have learned to cope with our “usual” extreme weather events. Typical storm damage is manageable; our power outages rarely last longer than a few hours. Even after the worst Wisconsin blizzards, city streets are cleared within a day or two. Schools are rarely closed for more than a day. We know how to handle our weather. At least up until now. 

The City of Milwaukee Forestry Department, DPW, and Fire Department were very nearly overwhelmed by the scope and power of this storm. The fact that the intensity of the event took everyone by surprise only underlines how quickly and drastically our weather is evolving. Climate change is here knocking on our front door and the sad truth is that some of these extremes will not be going away. Unless we act quickly and decisively, extreme weather events will get decidedly worse.

Many citizens have been conscious of this crisis and have been doing their part to mitigate the problem. Electric and hybrid cars are selling at all-time highs. Home solar power alternatives are becoming more affordable and more common. Eco-friendly product options like biodegradable trash bags, bamboo straws, and reusable grocery bags are part of daily life. Many corporations are now marketing themselves as supporters of the environment. 

Yet this is probably too little, too late. If Earth is already sliding over the tipping point and world governments continue to stall the implementation of any meaningful carbon dioxide emission reform, then we may be looking at far more dramatic climate events in the future. Western wildfires will continue to rage, category 5+ hurricanes will keep ravaging our shores, and excessive heat and drought will spark world-wide famines. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. 

There may be no solutions. Acts of individual altruism—as measured on a global scale—are probably meaningless. While there has been slight movement by nations to alter the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, they are continuing to move at a snail’s pace. Unless there is an unforeseen miracle on the horizon, things—in the foreseeable future—are going to get worse. 

And, just like waiting hours and days to get our power back on after this last extreme weather event, we are going to have to learn to live with the consequences of apathy and inaction. We were warned by scientists, by activists, and by our own children. 

There is no excuse. We knew this was coming and we turned our backs on it. And now we’re going to have to learn to live with it.