Homes destroyed and submerged in water after Hurricane Ida near Chauvin, Louisiana, on Sept. 1. Photographer: Mark Felix/Bloomberg Homes destroyed and submerged in water after Hurricane Ida near Chauvin, Louisiana, on Sept. 1, 2021. (Photo: Mark Felix/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) — In April, Deanne Criswell, the first woman to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, took over a 20,000-person operation exhausted by managing responses to disasters linked to global warming: wildfires and the 2020 hurricane season, the most active on record.

Deanne Criswell. (Photo: FEMA)

As if that weren't enough, President Joe Biden asked FEMA to create and staff sites for COVID-19 vaccinations and to run shelters for undocumented migrant children along the southern border. Then came Hurricane Ida, which caused catastrophic flooding across the Northeast and at least 96 confirmed deaths in the U.S.

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