Jerome Ringo is 66 years old and he has lived in Lake Charles, Louisiana, his entire life. He’s seen a lot of hurricanes come through.
“We evacuated for Hurricane Katrina, Rita, Gustaf, Ike, Laura, Beta,” Ringo told CNBC in a phone conversation on Tuesday. “So, since 2005, honestly, I would say about it’s eight to 10 times.”
Evacuating from storms has been a part of Ringo’s entire life. “It goes back to when we were kids for hurricane Audrey back in 1957,” he told CNBC.
But the orders to leave have become more frequent.
“Normally you evacuate once a year. Now we’re seeing where you evacuate several times a year, because the frequency of the storms has increased as the the intensity of the storms has increased as climate impacts have increased.”
Ringo has always returned to Lake Charles, but he knows many who left and “vowed never to return,” he said.
“I’ve been asked, ‘Why don’t you leave? Why don’t you relocate?’” Ringo said.
There’s no place to run now. The United States of America is becoming a ground zero for climate change.
Jerome Ringo
CLIMATE ACTIVIST, BUSINESS OWNER
“Well, relocate where? If I move to the west coast, I’ve got to deal with fires. If I move to middle America, I have got to deal with tornadoes. If I move to the Tennessee Valley area, I have got to deal with flooding. If I move to the east coast, the east coast is now going to be hit by hurricanes like the Gulf has been because the water temperatures on the east coast are as high as the Gulf of Mexico, which is a magnet for intense hurricanes. So there’s no place to run now. The United States of America is becoming ground zero for climate change.”
As Hurricane Ida approached the Gulf of Mexico, Ringo prepared to evacuate by boarding up his house, which had been devastated by Hurricane Laura a year ago. He had only moved back into his home following the lengthy reconstruction efforts about two weeks before.
“The problem on the Gulf Coast is whenever a storm hits, it takes forever to get your home repaired,” Ringo said. Between hurricane damage on the Gulf Coast, wildfire damage in California, flooding in Central and Tennessee Valley area, insurance companies “are having to pay out premiums like crazy now. And so the process of getting your property repaired is really difficult,” he said.
