Eleanor Hildebrandt | September 3, 2021

Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, and New Jersey are recovering from significant damage left by Hurricane Ida.

Hurricane Ida, currently a Category 2 hurricane, made landfall this week, 16 years after Hurricane Katrina slammed the Southeastern coast. When Ida hit Louisiana, it was a Category 4 hurricane. Flooding from the storm has killed dozens of people up and down the eastern United States.

In one hour on Thursday, New York City saw more than three inches of rain. The flooding impacted various public transportation routes, with water in the subways and public buses flooding in the streets. Most subway lines continued to see disruptions Friday morning, according to The New York Times. The excessive rain caught officials off guard in New York City. The Northeast saw more deaths than the Southeast, where Ida hit first. The two regions saw similar amounts of damage and flooding.

Hurricanes are worsening due to climate change, Yale Climate Connections reports. Wind speeds are strengthening in new storms alongside more rain and worse storm surges as a result of the global temperature increasing. The storms are said to be even costlier as they worsen, regardless of their location. The changes could lead to Americans seeing more category 4 or 5 storms.