Moving entire communities, once an extreme idea, is becoming the norm in the U.S. as climate change makes flooding worse. A storm the size of Laura hitting Houston would be a nightmare, said Terence O’Rourke, an environmental lawyer with the Harris County Attorney’s office. “If it’s got to hit somewhere, somewhere else is better.”However, no matter which path Hurricane Laura took, major industrial facilities would have very likely been nearby. Up the coast from Houston toward Louisiana, the industrial area known as the Golden Triangle contains many large refineries and chemical plants. Farther east, the city of Orange has dozens of chemical plants, and, across the Sabine River, which separates Texas from Louisiana, the chain continues, with Lake Charles home to a cluster of major chemical plants, including the Sasol Chemicals complex, owned by a South African company.

Source: New York Times August 27, 2020 21:06 UTC