Disaster planning funds the seawall because the seawall has a funding stream

Governments "often focus heavily on physical risks while giving too little attention to social vulnerability," writes the author of the phys.org analysis, who says they research climate and disaster resilience and study how governments prepare for climate disasters ^[14][18]. That conclusion comes out of a review of climate adaptation and disaster preparedness in what the article describes as several high-risk communities in the United States ^[13]. The article does not name the study or say how many communities it covered ^[13].

A review of that kind maps where preparedness planning stops. It has no comparison set of communities that did fund social programs, and no effect size for what the gap costs in injuries, evacuations or dollars.

The explanation the piece offers for the gap is administrative. A seawall can be tied to a specific project and a specific funding stream ^[17]. Reducing social vulnerability may require coordination across housing, health care, emergency management and social services, and it typically requires sustained investment ^[17].

The early signs carry a similar evidentiary limit. Four are named, and one of them, the Lower 48 summer, comes with a ranking; the other three are described qualitatively ^[19]. The link the article draws is the pattern itself. El Nino appears every few years when temperatures in the eastern Pacific rise ^[6], and it can turn normally wet regions dry and dry regions wet while pushing global average temperatures up ^[7]. Drought slowing Panama Canal traffic and a busy Pacific against a quiet Atlantic both sit inside that pattern ^[3][4]. The pattern is thinner evidence than an attribution study, which would put a number on how much more likely the season was with El Nino than without it.

Timing decides which fixes are even available. Forecasters warn of extreme heat, destructive storms and flooding in many parts of the planet through early 2027 ^[5]. Repairing or replacing large-scale infrastructure is expensive and time-consuming, the article says, and often discussed for years before the asset fails ^[12]. Heavy rainfall broke levees in multiple Seattle-area communities in December 2025 ^[11]. What fits inside a single season is inspecting flood control and drainage systems, trimming trees that could bring down power lines, and maintaining stormwater channels, roads and bridges ^[10]. Helping low-income residents and older adults prepare their homes and themselves for extreme conditions fits too, and the piece says that work gets less attention ^[20].

On the West Coast the hazards stack. El Nino conditions arriving with king tides and rising sea levels could produce more coastal flooding, erosion and damage to homes and infrastructure ^[8]. In past El Nino winters, flood damage and landslides from heavy rain shut down highways and affected public services long after the storm had passed ^[9].