Hurricane Irma is probably causing severe deja vu for first responders at the Environmental Protection Agency. Only a week ago, Hurricane Harvey brought record-breaking flooding to the Houston area, home to at least 41 of the nation's most hazardous toxic waste sites. Water inundated 13 of these so-called Superfund sites, and now risks poisoning surrounding floodwater, soil, and people—mostly low-income, minority people, according to one analysis. Now, another storm that defies precedent is headed toward Florida and the Carolinas. There are at least 80 toxic Superfund sites in Irma's path.
This isn't a unique problem when it comes to hurricanes. After Hurricane Sandy devastated New York and New Jersey in 2012, officials had to monitor 247 Superfund sites—one of which, the Gowanus Canal, overflowed into people's homes. Nine Superfund sites were in the path of Hurricane Katrina, and several flooded. Thomas Burke, an associate dean at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health who conducted an assessment of chemical exposures after Katrina, said these inundations very likely contributed to the mass of various chemicals found in soil and groundwater after the storm. “It's hard to say for sure because there was not specific site evaluation data included in our assessment,” he said. “But absolutely, Superfund sites were a major potential source of soil and groundwater contamination. They always are after major hurricanes.”
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