The populations who are most vulnerable to extreme heat are people with pre-existing conditions, outdoor workers, children and older adults, the assessment found. Those typically occur once every other year but will increase to twice a year within three decades. An extreme heat event is when temperatures reach the 98th percentile for at least four days. By 2050, the assessment predicts that the number of extreme heat events in the county will increase tenfold. “Once you know who or what is vulnerable to the kinds of climate impacts you’re expecting and where those impacts are likely to occur, then government and policy makers can start to design programs in response to protect our communities,” Gero said.Įxtreme heat, Gero added, is one of the most significant impacts of climate change on LA County. Assessments were based on social factors such as age, gender, education, health, mobility and race, as well as the physical vulnerabilities of the area’s infrastructure systems such as communications, energy, transportation, water and housing. Heat, drought, wildfire, inland flooding and coastal flooding are the main climate hazards the county is facing, so the assessment looked at each hazard using census tract data to determine a population’s vulnerabilities. Vulnerability, according to LA County Chief Sustainability Officer Gary Gero, is the nature and degree to which a system or sub population is exposed to significant variations in the climate coupled with the degree to which that system or sub population is affected and its subsequent inability to moderate potential damages or cope with the consequences. We are literally in a race against time.”
“Unlike 20 years ago, when California’s first climate bill was signed to reduce emissions from vehicles, we can actually now see, feel and breathe it in LA County. Fran Pavley, who is also the current Schwarzenegger Environmental Institute director, during a webinar that presented the results from the LA County Sustainability Office assessment. “The impacts of a changing climate are accelerating far faster than we had ever anticipated,” said former California Sen. The assessment also predicts an increase in inland flooding with drier summers and wetter winters, as well as more frequent and severe coastal flooding events, even with small increases in sea level rise.
One in five LA County properties is projected to be at risk of flooding during a large storm event.Extreme heat events are expected to increase tenfold by 2050.Extreme heat, drought, wildfire, inland flooding and coastal flooding are the top climate hazards LA County is facing.
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