Céline Gounder: [email protected] | SOURCE

Hurricane Milton, a Category 3 storm, hit the west coast of Florida on Wednesday night, killing at least 17 people and leaving more than 3 million people without power. Florida, which was hit by an even more powerful Hurricane Helene last month, is now looking at a massive recovery effort.

But storm recoveries are not just about repairing roofs and clearing downed trees. Recovery needs to include addressing the mental health struggles that come with hurricanes and even just living in areas vulnerable to such storms.

Recovery needs to include addressing the mental health struggles that come with hurricanes and even just living in areas vulnerable to such storms.

Indeed, the mental health impacts of the climate crisis are becoming a more salient issue, capturing the attention of researchers and mental health professionals.

As hurricanes grow more intense and heat waves become more frequent — merely a glimpse of what the crisis will fully entail — it’s understandable, even rational, that our collective sense of well-being could take a hit.

The catchall term “climate anxiety” has emerged to encompass distress and other negative, complicated feelings about how climate change is reshaping life as we know it.

In 2021, a landmark survey of 10,000 young people across 10 countries revealed that nearly 60% of respondents were “extremely worried” or “very worried” about climate change.

A majority felt that “people have failed to take care of the planet” and that “the things I most value will be destroyed.”

In a viral video recorded as Hurricane Milton approached (it was then an even more fearsome Category 5 storm) veteran meteorologist John Morales of NBC 6 in Miami choked back tears as he described the storm’s rapid intensification and potential for destruction.

“I apologize,” he quivered, his emotions visibly swelling as he talked about the storm. “This is just horrific … ”

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