Major flood would hit Los Angeles Black communities disproportionately hard, study finds
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LOS ANGELES — A new study by the U.S. Conference of Mayors offers a sobering conclusion about the risk that Black communities in Los Angeles County face as Hurricane Harvey and the approaching flood waters do their worst in the region.
The study, entitled “Storms, Floods, Risks and Consequences to the Black and Hispanic Communities,” identifies specific areas where a majority of the population would be most likely to be at higher risk due to flooding from either Harvey or the next storm.
The study was conducted during a meeting about the topic of climate change held on a September night at New City Hall, the Los Angeles City Hall.
“I think what the study really does is point out a pattern of how the people and communities in this particular community are being disproportionally impacted in terms of climate change, and we cannot and will not wait on the federal agencies to make that impact,” said Mayors’ Association of San Diego County President and Los Angeles County Mayor Art Agnos.
The study breaks down what areas are most impacted by climate change in the county. According to the study, two-thirds of the areas are predominantly low-income communities; one-third are areas that are already experiencing flooding; one-third are very low-income areas; and one-third are located in neighborhoods that are mostly white.
“Flooding is not a new phenomenon. It’s been talked about for decades,” said Agnos. “But it’s hard to come up with statistics because we don’t have good data on everything that’s occurring.”
“When you go on to a neighborhood, you’re going to have three or four or five people with low-income that have to stand in one