Caribbean Matters: Flooding worsens amid predictions of severe hurricane season

A scary time of year is approaching as the Atlantic hurricane season is usually predicted to take place from June 1 through Nov. 30, and National Hurricane Preparedness Week took place last week here in the U.S. from May 5 to 11. I have frequently criticized our media for paying too little attention to Caribbean weather events. News organizations tend to focus on storms that may wind up hitting Florida or the Gulf Coast, ignoring mitigation efforts and the impact on island nations that sit on the front lines.

Though most of us remember Hurricanes Maria, Irma, and Katrina, I rarely hear mention of these catastrophic Caribbean events: Hurricane Gordon (which hit in 1994 and resulted in 1,152 deaths); Hurricane David (hit in 1979 and caused 2,068 deaths); and Hurricane Jeanne (hit in 2004 and resulted in 3,037 deaths).

Major Caribbean weather monitoring sources are predicting serious storms this year, and flooding already happening in island nations has been overlooked in reports of massive flooding in other areas of the globe.

Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean.