About 3 million Americans are already "climate migrants," analysis finds. Here's where they left.
CBSN
Climate change is already forcing millions of people around the world to leave their homes to seek refuge from the rising seas, devastating droughts and the other effects of global warming. But that migration is also happening within the U.S. as extreme weather makes parts of the country virtually inhospitable, according to a new analysis.
About 3.2 million Americans have moved due to the mounting risk of flooding, the First Street Foundation said in a report that focuses on so-called "climate abandonment areas," or locations where the local population fell between 2000 and 2020 because of risks linked to climate change.
Many of those areas are in parts of the country that also have seen a surge of migration during the past two decades, including Sun Belt states such as Florida and Texas. Such communities risk an economic downward spiral as population loss causes a decline in property values and local services, the group found.
