They moved to Vermont for climate safety. Then came floods.

Growing up on the west coast of Florida, Joanna Banks-Morgan had become blasé to hurricanes and tropical storms. They were a part of life. But in October 2018, when Hurricane Michael jumped from Category 2 to 4 in just hours in the middle of the night, and her daughter’s home was destroyed, her perspective began to shift. 

Less than a month later – and all the way across the United States – Ms. Banks-Morgan’s father lost his home in California to a wildfire. Her daughter, who had temporarily moved in with him, was evacuating once again. This time, alligators lurking in washed-out streets were replaced by fires blazing on either side of the road that they traveled from Malibu to Los Angeles.