Americans have already faced the impact of extreme heat this summer, and we have a way to go before its over. It looks like some relief for heat and other extreme weather is on its way.
This Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced new actions to protect people from the impacts of extreme weather. According to the White House, the president was set to receive an operational briefing on extreme weather forecasts for this summer.
Included in the actions announced this week was $1 billion in awards from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Overall, the awards were granted to 656 projects across the country and are intended to help communities protect against disasters and natural hazards, including extreme heat, storms, and flooding.
The Biden administration also said Tuesday that the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is proposing a rule to protect workers. If it is finalized, the rule would establish the nation’s first-ever federal safety standard addressing excessive heat in the workplace.
Later this summer, Biden will hold a summit on extreme heat with state, local, Tribal, and Territorial leaders.
“Across the country, tens of millions of Americans are experiencing the effects of extreme weather events,” said the White House. These events include a “record-shattering heat wave across the Midwest and Northeast, to devastating flooding in Iowa and Minnesota, to raging wildfires in New Mexico, Oregon, and California.”
Texas also faces extreme heat, which in turn puts pressure on its power grid and water supply.
In addition to these issues with extreme heat, the Atlantic hurricane season is also kicking up. This season is expected to be an active one, as Audacy reported last month.
Extreme weather events in general are becoming more common due to the climate crisis, per the White House. Last year, there was a record number of individual events (28) that caused more than $1 billion in damage and climate disasters caused an estimated $90 billion in aggregate damage.
More information about the impact of extreme weather in the U.S. will be revealed in a report being released by the Environmental Protection Agency, the White House said.