With another year in the books, there’s a lot to look back on that happened in 2013. For starters, Minnesota made significant progress on priorities like jobs, education, and our state’s finances. However, there is more work to do in 2014 if we want to keep moving Minnesota forward.
One issue that comes to mind is protecting our economy and environment from increasingly severe and frequent natural disasters, which science shows are the result of climate change.
There is an exciting event about this issue for the Northfield community coming up on Saturday, January 18th at St. Olaf. Meteorologist Paul Douglas will visit our region to lead a community conversation entitled “Climate Change: Natural Cycle or Troubling Trend.” The event takes place from 8:00am to 3:45pm. Admission is free, but pre-registration is required at www.northfieldclimatesummit.org.
I encourage you to attend and participate. It’s an opportunity for our community to proactively work together towards preventing costly damage to property and infrastructure in our region right now and into the future. When you consider the financial impact of natural disasters, we cannot afford not to take action.
Over the past fifteen years, 32 severe natural disasters cost our state nearly $500 million for recovery efforts. In some cases, Minnesota qualified for matching dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
As you may recall, state lawmakers held a Special Session this fall to appropriate disaster relief aid to 18 counties that were hit by major storms and floods in June.
Unfortunately, Rice County did not meet the requirements to receive state or federal aid after families and businesses were hit hard by an isolated flooding event on July 13.
According to county officials, damages to county infrastructure alone totaled $2.5 million. The flood washed out roads, railroad tracks, bridges, and culverts, ruptured a large gas line, cut fiber optic lines, and filled ditches and culverts with silt, sand and debris.
Families lost their homes and many others needed to be evacuated and temporarily relocated until their homes were livable once again. The Cannon River overflowed its banks causing flooding to many businesses in downtown Northfield.
That day was a reminder of the 2010 flood that took everyone by surprise. Extensive property damage resulted from a large volume of water falling in a relatively short amount of time. Once again, our dedicated emergency personnel did an outstanding job and neighbors came together to support people in need. We are truly fortunate to live in such a caring, compassionate community.
We don’t know when the next natural disaster will strike, but we can steps to be better prepared. I continue to work with my colleagues to determine what steps we can take to ensure communities like ours can receive state and federal aid to recover from isolated natural disasters like the flood this past July.
It is becoming clearer to many that our unusual increase in severe storm events is linked to climate change. Overcoming the economic uncertainty caused by these major natural disasters will take cooperation between the public, government agencies, and our business community.
That’s why I encourage you to attend the upcoming community conversation on climate change being held at St. Olaf College later this month on Saturday, January 18.
The event gives us an opportunity to have a discussion about the science of climate change, its anticipated impact on Minnesota, and what we can do to create a more sustainable future for our community. You’ll be able to ask questions of climate change experts, share ideas and your perspective, and find out about practical steps that residents, businesses and institutions can take to reverse the negative trends we’re seeing these days.
I hope your New Year is off to a good start. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance in any matter. You can reach me by phone at (651) 296-0171, by email at rep.david.bly@house.mn, or by postal mail at 559 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155.