Extreme weather ‘new normal’ due to climate change: US emergency chief after tornadoes hit country

Extreme weather events such as the tornadoes that hit at least six American states over the weekend will be the “new normal” due to the effects of climate change, the country’s Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Deanne Criswell said on Sunday, reported CNN.

“The effects we are seeing of climate change are the crisis of our generation,” Criswell told CNN.

Several tornadoes have ripped through multiple states of the country, including Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri, leading to dozen deaths and several missing. The toll was earlier said to be over 80, but recent updates from a badly-affected candle factory in Kentucky suggested that it could be lower.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear had told reporters on Sunday morning that over 70 killed were killed and that the toll could exceed 100 in the state. However, later in the day, the governor said that the toll could be as low as 50 after state officials received updates from the candle factory whose roof had collapsed, reported AP.

“We are praying that maybe original estimates of those we have lost were wrong,” he said. “If so, it’s going to be pretty wonderful.”

Bob Ferguson, a spokesperson of the candle company Mayfield Consumer Products, said that among the 110 people who were at the factory, eight were confirmed to be dead, while eight others have not been located. The number of missing people was far lower than earlier, he said.

Besides in Kentucky, at least 14 people have died in Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri.

Criswell told CNN that rescue efforts were underway and there was still hope to save some peoplea. She, however, did not have exact numbers on the people still missing.

Criswell said that her agency was working to develop a system to tackle such extreme weather events.

She said that currently the priority was to save lives, create shelters for affected people and provide long-term assistance in rebuilding efforts.

The emergency management agency chief pointed out that the tornadoes that struck during the weekend were “incredibly unusual”. She, said it was not so because of the time of the year but due to the “severity and amount of the time tornadoes spent on the ground”.

Decembers usually do not get tornadoes in the US due to cold weather, according to AP. The “unusual” incident in the current incident was that the tornado had remained on the ground for over 200 miles, or 320 kms, which is one of the longest, if not the longest, on record in US’ history, according to AFP.

On Saturday, US President Joe Biden too had said that it was likely to be one of the largest tornado outbreaks in the country’s history.

Scientists have yet not concluded if the storms were a result of climate change, but they said that evidence to believe so was building.