After severe storms and tornadoes tore through parts of the central United States this weekend, leaving at least 100 people dead, the nation's top emergency management official is warning that deadly storms like this are the "new normal."
Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the agency believes extreme weather events will only occur more frequently as the climate continues to warm.
"This is going to be our new normal," Criswell told CNN. "The effects we are seeing of climate change are the crisis of our generation."
An estimated 22 tornadoes touched down Friday and Saturday in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee. One tornado left a path of destruction for more than 225 miles across Kentucky. At least 100 people are reported to be dead with dozens others missing and unaccounted for. President Joe Biden called it "one of the largest tornado outbreaks in our history."
Criswell said it is incredibly unusual to see such powerful storms this late in the year.
"We do see tornadoes in December, that part is not unusual, but at this magnitude, I don't think we've ever seen one this late in the year," she said. "It's also historic. The severity and the amount of time that this tornado, or these tornadoes, spent on the ground is unprecedented."
Criswell said FEMA is equipped to do what it can in the face of more severe weather.
"We're taking a lot of efforts at FEMA to work with communities to help reduce the impacts that we're seeing from these severe weather events and help to develop systemwide projects that can help protect communities," she said.
While storm cleanup continues, the president has declared a state of emergency in Kentucky, accelerating federal emergency assistance to areas hit hardest. He's also asked the Environmental Protection Agency to determine any impact climate change had on the storms.
"All I know is that the intensity of the weather across the board has some impact as a consequence of the warming of the planet and the climate change. The specific impact on these specific storms, I can't say at this point," Biden said during a briefing. "The fact is that we know everything is more intense when the climate is warming. And obviously it has some impact here."
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