In the United States in 2022, millions of people were displaced by natural disasters, which were exacerbated by climate change

By Lucas Thumson

February 12, 2023

 According to Census Bureau data gathered earlier this year, natural disasters are expected to force 3.4 million Americans to leave their homes in 2022. This highlights how climate-related weather events are already altering American communities.

Hurricanes, followed by floods, then fires, then tornadoes, uprooted the vast majority of these people. Within a week, about 40% of people went back to their houses. Almost 16% of people have not (and may never) returned home, while 12% were displaced for longer than six months.

The Household Pulse Survey, which was performed from January 4 to January 16, yielded 68,504 responses, which are the basis for the Census Bureau's estimate. One of the few federal initiatives to track displaced individuals will be the data collection, which will begin in 2020. The bureau does acknowledge that the extrapolation of the data from its sample data is "experimental" in nature.

Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, who was not engaged in data collecting, remarked, "These numbers are really worrisome." These figures are in line with what one could find in a developing nation. It's disgusting to watch them in America. "Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, so they will only get worse in the years to come."

More of an impact was felt in some states than others. More than 888,000 people were relocated from Florida. More than 368,000 people were displaced in Louisiana.

A number of significant disasters struck the United States in 2022. 18 extreme weather occurrences, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, each cost at least $1 billion in damages. For years, climatologists have issued warnings that as global temperatures rise, more severe weather disasters could be expected.

The estimate from the Census Bureau, which represents almost 1.4% of adult Americans, is greater than other estimates. According to data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, a division of the nonprofit organisation The Norwegian Refugee Council, disasters uprooted 800,000 Americans annually from 2008 to 2021.

The United States is not at all ready for this, according to Garrard. "Our settlement patterns have not taken into account the rising threats that climate change poses to areas of the country's livability."

The information revealed that the more than 500,000 individuals who left their homes and never came back endured a variety of difficulties, including a shortage of housing, food, water, sanitary conditions, and child care.

In today's society, we take all of these things for granted, said Gerrard. "Child development and physical and mental health are profoundly harmed by its absence."

Inequalities between people of various economic statuses, races, and identities were also demonstrated by the statistics. Black and Hispanic inhabitants had somewhat higher evacuation rates than white residents, and those making less than $25,000 a year had the greatest rate of evacuation of any economic category.

Adults who identify as LGBTQIA+ were more severely impacted than straight, cisgender people, according to the data: 4% of LGBTQIA+ adults had to leave their homes compared to 1.2%.

Michael Méndez, a professor of environmental policy and planning at the University of California, Irvine, said, "It's important to note that a lot of these LGBTQ individuals are often also considered to be socially vulnerable, really putting a strong intersectional lens on disaster response preparedness and recovery."

"Those who are African American, transgender, and low income are much more the LGBT group that's susceptible, and most socially vulnerable to disasters," he said. "They are frequently made invisible for this reason in the context of catastrophe policy, planning, and readiness. They are dismissed as not needing to supply further resources for this community.