Hurricanes Milton and Helene: What Could Be Done to Save Lives

At least five people have been killed in tornadoes generated by Hurricane Milton, and low-lying coastal neighborhoods in Florida were swallowed by flooding. The full scale of the impact of the hurricane is still coming into view, 

Hurricane Milton comes less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene ravaged much of the southeastern United States. As the region braces for more destruction, the question that must be asked is: Why is society so unprepared to confront these predictable and increasingly frequent disasters?

The death toll from Hurricane Helene has now reached 225, with hundreds more people still unaccounted for. In North Carolina’s Buncombe County alone, 72 people have died, with search and rescue efforts ongoing. The devastation extends across much of the Southeast, where entire communities have been left without power, clean water, or functioning infrastructure.

Hurricanes are becoming more frequent, more powerful, and more deadly, fueled by the relentless warming of the oceans due to climate change. Yet the ruling class is opposed to and incapable of doing anything to address this escalating crisis.

What could be done to save lives

It is now nearly twenty years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, yet nothing has been done to protect against the devastating impact of storms. This is not because the necessary measures to protect lives are unknown or technologically unfeasible. The infrastructure needed to prevent such disasters is well within reach, but it is chronically underfunded or non-existent.

What could be done? If society prioritized human lives over profit, billions could be spent on:

• Building robust flood prevention measures like levees, modernizing drainage systems, and reinforcing bridges and roads to withstand severe weather.

• A nationwide upgrade to housing, ensuring that homes are storm-resistant, particularly in flood-prone areas.

• Coordinated public evacuation systems, guaranteeing swift and organized responses to emergencies and ensuring that no one is left behind when disaster strikes.

A Phys.org study in 2013 estimated that about $50 billion per year would be required to boost flood protection for 136 of the world’s most at-risk coastal cities due to rising sea levels and extreme weather events. Implementing these measures could drastically reduce the annual costs of flood damage from a projected $1 trillion by 2050, without adaptation, to just over $60 billion annually. Yet, such investments remain neglected in favor of vast military expenditures and corporate bailouts.

In 2023 alone, the US spent a staggering $916 billion on its military—40 percent of the world’s total military spending. Consider the staggering figures:

• $8 trillion spent by the US government on post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and elsewhere through Fiscal Year 2022, according to the Brown University “Cost of War” project.

• $113 billion on the US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine.

• $22.8 billion to support Israel’s genocide in Gaza and US military operations in the Middle East over the past year alone.

• $4.5 trillion handed to Wall Street and corporations during the COVID-19 pandemic to prop up financial markets and protect the profits of the rich.

• Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has a net worth of $258.8 billion, which is more than five times the annual cost needed to boost flood protection for the world’s most vulnerable cities.

These resources could have been used to build flood defenses, fortify housing, and upgrade emergency services to save thousands of lives. Just a fraction of this spending would revolutionize disaster preparedness, sparing millions from devastation.

Climate change and the failure of capitalism

The connection between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change has been understood for over a century, and scientists have been sounding the alarm for decades. Yet capitalist governments, representing the interests of the corporate and financial elite, have done nothing to address the escalating crisis. 

The measures required to combat climate change—transitioning to renewable energy, investing in resilient infrastructure, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions—demand a globally coordinated plan. But this is incompatible with the capitalist nation-state system, in which competing national interests block international collaboration.

Moreover, the reorganization of energy production is essential. Fossil fuels must be replaced with renewable energy sources, which requires vast investments in new infrastructure and technology. But this is impossible under a system where private profit dominates economic life, and the energy corporations—among the most powerful in the world—use their influence to block any efforts to curtail their profits.

In the 2024 elections, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans offer any solution to the climate crisis. The Republicans openly deny climate change and promote antisemitic conspiracy theories, while the Democrats pay lip service to environmental concerns but prioritize war. Both parties serve the interests of the corporate and financial oligarchy, and neither will take the necessary steps to confront the existential threat of climate change.

The Socialist Equality Party insists that the only solution to the crises of war, climate change, and social inequality is a socialist reorganization of society. The trillions wasted on war and bailouts must be redirected to meet the needs of the population. This requires:

• Massive public works programs to upgrade housing, strengthen flood defenses, and provide rapid evacuation for all in need.

• Seizing and transforming the energy corporations into public utilities, democratically controlled by the working class.

• Expropriating the wealth of the corporate and financial oligarchy to fund a global transition to renewable energy and climate-resilient infrastructure.

Climate change is a class issue. It is not 'humanity' that is destroying the planet but the capitalist system, which places profit above all else. The same system that produces war and inequality is also hurtling humanity toward environmental catastrophe.

The solution lies in overthrowing capitalism and replacing it with socialism. In a socialist society, the vast wealth created by the working class would be used to meet human needs, not to enrich a tiny elite or wage wars for profit. We call on workers and young people to join the SEP and fight for this future.