The Environmental Club presents the Eco Fact of the week! This past week, the Eastern side of the United States has been hit with one of the strongest hurricanes to have had landfall, landing with wind speeds of up to 150 mph. For the past decade, hurricanes have contributed to a massive amount of destruction, destroying not only our civilizations but putting the surrounding environment at risk. When a hurricane strikes, the biggest environmental concern is if they damage a chemical plant. Back in 2017, Houston’s petrochemical plants and refineries released millions of pollutants days after Hurricane Harvey came in. Another chemical factory northeast of Houston ended up having multiple explosions, releasing fumes that sickened emergency workers. Coming back to present times, Hurricane Ida swept through one of the nation’s largest chemical, petroleum and natural gas hubs. It is unclear how much damage was done to the factory; we will be seeing in the following days. It is important to remember that natural disasters can always exacerbate the amount of pollution we release into our atmosphere.
