Hurricanes

The Atlantic hurricane season is here — that time of the year when tropical storms whip their way in from the sea, cutting paths of destruction from Nova Scotia all the way down to the Caribbean. From Katrina back in 2005, to Harvey and Maria more recently, we’ve seen the devastation these storms can do. How do we prepare better — and recover more fully? In this episode, we hear stories about the power of hurricanes, and how we deal with them.

Also heard on this week’s episode:

• Compost isn’t just good for your garden — as reporter Zoe Sullivan explains, it’s a weapon for cities in the fight against floodwaters.
• Yale historian Stuart Schwartz says hurricanes have the power to change political history. He takes us back to one storm in 1930 that helped shape the future of the Dominican Republic.
• Author Rachel Slade recounts the story of El Faro, a container ship sunk by a hurricane just east of the Bahamas, and why it didn’t need to happen. Her new book is “Into the Raging Sea.”