Lyndon Lewis’ life changed overnight on 6 September 2017 when Hurricane Irma destroyed everything he had on his home island of St. Martin in the Caribbean West Indies. Both his successful car rental business and his home literally flew up in the air and got completely annihilated overnight. All communications were cut off for several days, chaos gripped the island: armed gangs were looting businesses, there was talk of the government collapsing. Due to his training as a police officer Lyndon helped 13 people during the disaster. The only vehicle left intact was used by his family to sleep in after the hurricane where they spent 10 nights before getting evacuated to La Rochelle by the French government with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Even though Lyndon and his family were legally French citizens, once in France he struggled trying to get refugee status and support by the state due to the lack of legal precedent. Thanks to his legal training he managed to find shelter for his family and other climate refugees. Today, Lyndon's children remain in France for their education while he is currently a member of the local parliament and holds the position of Minister of Justice on his home island of St. Martin.

On August 27, 2017, a tropical wave formed off the west coast of Africa and was pushed westward across the Atlantic by steady trade winds. The warm ocean waters gave the storm energy to grow quickly. As the Earth’s rotation caused it to spin, it became a cyclone, and a moist stable atmosphere helped keep it strong.

By September 6, Hurricane Irma struck St. Martin as a powerful Category 5 hurricane, bringing destructive winds and damaging 95 percent of the island’s infrastructure. The 2017 hurricane season resulted in over $1.5 billion in losses across four Caribbean islands displacing more than 400,000 children.

Climate change has warmed the oceans, which have absorbed over 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases, fueling stronger storms. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, leading to heavier rainfall. Combined with rising sea levels, this increases the risk of flooding. Since 1975, the number of strong hurricanes has roughly doubled, and as temperatures rise, even more intense storms are likely in the future.

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