Last year a hurricane came up the coast all the way to Maine rather than being pushed out to sea, and a number of the coastal towns around us saw millions of dollars worth of damage despite how much the storm had weakened over cooler waters. A few days later I was able to get over to my grandmother’s old house to check the damage for my aunt and could barely believe the devastation - piles of sand, seaweed, jersey barriers crammed against each other all akimbo, and mountains of flood damaged property waiting to be hauled away. All just from the storm surge.

Why a few days later, you ask?

Storm surges can be insane. I’ve never been in a hurricane, but have witnessed the aftermath. My parents had some property in coastal Mexico that got hit. When we got there to assess damages, the town’s main street was essentially a giant sand dune over 2 storeys tall. The surge had basically lifted the entire beach and dumped it 2 blocks in. The town square was likewise covered in sand with all sorts of debris sticking out of it. And by debris, I mean stuff as large as a fridge.

(Regarding the property, we kind of lucked out. About a year before it hit, a hotel went up between the house and the beach, which blocked the view but had a major silver lining in terms of protecting all the houses behind it from the worst of the storm. And then speaking to the hotel owner, he said he’d spent a small fortune to build a giant concrete foundation that stretched almost a city block’s length under the beach. People thought he was insane to do that, but it was literally the only waterfront building still standing, so he clearly knew what he was doing.)