Why More Hurricanes are the New Normal

As we face the terror of 2024’s active hurricane season, many search for someone to blame, believing that everyone from governments to scientists are creating hurricanes. The reality is that until we can confront our global contributions to climate change, this highly destructive hurricane season will become the new standard for the Caribbean, leaving us to yet again bear the burden of the actions of global powers as we have done throughout history.

While Cayman has managed to escape the majority of the damage this year, we are no strangers to the wrath of hurricanes, with many still holding memories and stories of Hurricane Ivan and the storm of 1932. For generations, Caymanian identity has been shaped by the lessons of resilience, community, and adaptation taught to us through bracing and rebuilding storm after storm; yet in 2004, our worst documented hurricane, category five Hurricane Ivan, caused 2.86 billion US dollars in damage, 183% of Cayman’s GDP at the time. The storm left 95% of homes and other buildings damaged or destroyed, leaving many to mourn the loss of the livelihood they had built; an event so traumatic it changed the way we view time culturally, creating the new realities of pre- and post-ivan. Even after facing such destruction we managed to recover, but is our past resilience enough to face future challenges?

Due to climate change’s heating effects, scientists predict that hurricane seasons will only intensify, leaving us more vulnerable than ever before. Hurricanes typically only form over the tropics, where the warmth of the air and ocean water fuels them. As the ocean water evaporates and the winds above the sea warm, the air begins to rise. Storm clouds are then formed as the rising air cools off. Since all the air below has risen, it leaves a pocket of low pressure that other air rushes to fill, creating a cycle of air rising. Eventually, as more and more storm clouds form, an eye is created. The hurricane then begins to spin as the winds curve due to a force created through the rotation of the earth. As global air and surface water temperatures rise due to our collective contribution to global warming, evaporation processes will be accelerated and rising winds will be warmer. This, in turn, may lead to hurricanes of higher intensities developing more frequently and at a quicker rate. Furthermore, As winter seasons and northern latitudes become warmer, we may even see the lengths and the reach of hurricanes begin to expand as well.

So how do we face the future? How do we prepare for the worst while creating a future we love? In Cayman, we must focus on adaptation. We must focus on protecting our island and creating systems of security we can rely on when our normal systems no longer function. We must focus on building resilience in tune with nature’s inherent strengths and systems. Our island has been equipped with its own protection devices for decades: mangrove wetlands and coral reefs. Both of these provide us the service of protection as they break wave formations and swell with their tangled structures, yet every year we continue to lose these long-term guardians to developments for short-term gain.

Alongside just adapting, we must innovate. Our island is filled with educated scientists and innovators, and we must embrace the knowledge of our people in combination with the knowledge of our past to create new ideas for our future. Caymanians have always been resilient, but this will be our biggest test yet. Will we come together as a community to fight for the protection of our island for future generations, or will we let “the island that time forgot” truly fade into history?

Lastly, we must hold global powers accountable. Throughout history the Caribbean has been held in the palm of our colonial countries, facing the consequences of their actions while we are exploited for their benefit. From the first permanent Spanish settlers in 1493 which devastated the Caribbean’s Indigenous populations and resources, to the later importation and exploitation of 4.8 million enslaved Africans replacing the decimated Indigenous population, to the ongoing colonial struggles still felt today as we bear the consequences of the lack of global climate action while our seas, land, and people are still exploited for resources and over-tourism. We must use our voices regionally and globally to fight for the loss and damage reparations we deserve and to fight for change to reduce further disparity within our communities. We are not merely a ‘small island’, we are a strong island nation!

By: Soleil Parkinson