Hurricane season begins on June 1, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts a strong likelihood that the next seven months will bring an above-average number of tropical storms and hurricanes in 2022. According to NOAA, it’s the seventh consecutive above-normal season.
It’s impossible to know exactly how many there will be in a given season, or where they’ll hit. But we do know they will disproportionately impact low-wealth communities, communities of color, renters, the elderly and disabled, and other historically underserved and oppressed people.
Advocates across the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts have spent months preparing for what may come. They’re working in communities often failed by federal and state agencies—communities still recovering from storms that stretch back one, two, even five years: Laura, Delta, Ida, Florence, Harvey, and Michael.
Southerly works with community partners to determine information needs, creates resources and stories online and offline, and distributes them through trusted on-the-ground networks.
- Investigations into the housing crisis in Lake Charles after Hurricane Laura
- A printed mental health guide in collaboration with local clinics
- A disaster glossary
- A survey of communities so media can better serve them
- Workshops where residents are paid to attend and help create fact sheets for elected officials.
Read the full glossary
Disaster Glossary
Key terms and questions for before, during, and after a disaster.
read our stories
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The Louisiana Just Recovery Network stepped in to rebuild homes in 2021. They’re still at it—and working to create jobs for former industrial plant workers in the process.
How a farmers market supports Louisiana growers before, during, and after disasters
At the Crescent City Farmers Market in New Orleans, vendors preach good food, help each other through disasters, and seek connection.
With disaster tours, eastern N.C. locals share stories, propose flooding solutions
Residents and activists Robeson County are drawing attention to those still struggling to recover from Hurricanes Matthew and Florence.
Kentucky communities aim to rebuild sustainably after floods intensify housing crisis
Local organizations join hands to help people who lost homes during flooding in four hardest hit counties in southeast Kentucky.
Mitigation, preparation, education: Q&A with coastal N.C. official about flooding
Southerly spoke with Belhaven town manager Lynn Davis about the challenges of evacuations, transportation, and shelters for residents.
‘We are not immune’: Q&A with Jackson student leader on disasters while navigating college
Jackson State University resident assistant Kayla Carter is responsible for disseminating information to fellow students during disaster events. She says out-of-state students, whose families are further away, tend to be more anxious during emergencies.
2022 community reporting fellowship projects
In their own words, the fellows describe their experience and final projects.
‘Another layer to the inequality that exists’: Q&A with N.C. disaster response organizers
Four Robeson County, NC residents have created a Disaster Survival and Resiliency School to engage community residents impacted by climate disasters as leaders and equal partners in revisioning and redeveloping their communities and lives.
Can community gardens bring rural and urban farmers together after disasters? Q&A with Sprout NOLA’s Terence Jackson
Farmers face many challenges trying to grow quality food in the midst of rapid climate change, storms, and economic instability. Jackson sheds light on how community gardens can create a network for rural and urban farmers to build local food systems in their communities.
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