Into the Maelstrom, Part II

And on another note, let's talk about climate change:

A huge wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta., destroyed an entire neighbourhood and burned homes and businesses in several others Tuesday, and continues to rage out of control.

By late afternoon, the entire city of 60,000 had been ordered evacuated. Residents by the thousands fled the fire and for hours caused gridlock on Highway 63, even overwhelming oilsands work camps, where beds and meals were offered. Police were patrolling the highway with cans of gas, after fuel supplies ran out in Fort McMurray, Wandering River and Grasslands.

Fire chief Darby Allen said the entire neighbourhood of Beacon Hill "appears to have been lost" and the fire burned many homes in other parts of the city.

I suspect we're going to see more and more things like this. One article cited hot, dry conditions as exacerbating the fire. Sound familiar? Given the way weather patterns have altered in the past few years -- drought throughout the West, except where there's been flooding from sudden freak storms, record snows hitting the Northeast and Atlantic Coast, record erosion along coastlines, increasingly violent hurricanes -- well, welcome to the future.

If you think I'm being alarmist, read this:

Looking out from the house he built in 1959 with lumber brought by boat to this island at the south end of Terrebonne Parish, Wenceslaus Billiot remembers when the view from his back porch was thick forest and solid marsh.

Now there is just open water.

With their homes growing ever more vulnerable to hurricanes, the 89-year-old Billiot and other residents of Isle de Jean Charles soon will have the choice of whether to stay on this slip of land or relocate, hopefully with their neighbors, to higher ground.

This opportunity comes thanks to a $48 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to move the entire community. It’s a first of its kind for Louisiana and a test case for the choice other coastal communities will be facing as land loss continues: Leave or stay and be overwhelmed by storm after storm.

It's not just vulnerability to storms -- the island itself is disappearing.

Despite a highly lauded state master plan for coastal restoration and protection, land loss is expected to continue at a rate of 25 to 35 square miles a year into at least the near future. Certain areas of the coast will be washed away, including Isle de Jean Charles.

The erosion of the island occurred over the lifetime of the older residents, shrinking from 22,400 acres in 1955 to the approximately 320 acres it covers today.

Yes, these events are related -- the world is getting warmer, weather patterns are disrupted, the ice caps are melting.

The next time someone tells you that climate change is a hoax, slap them.