In Louisiana, the First US Climate Refugees Find a New Safe Haven

upstart writes:

The Isle of Jean Charles in Louisiana is slowly being submerged in water:

Joann Bourg stands in front of her new home, about an hour's drive from the low-lying Louisiana island where she grew up - an area gradually sinking into the Gulf of Mexico.

[...] Ms Bourg is one of about a dozen Native Americans from the Isle de Jean Charles who have been relocated to Schriever, less than 60 kilometres to the north-west - the maiden beneficiaries of a federal resettlement grant awarded in 2016.

They are the first so-called "climate refugees" in the United States, forced from their homes due to the consequences of climate change.

[...] Residents are mainly of Native American descent - several tribes sought shelter on the island from rampant government persecution in the 1800s.

But climate change has transformed the island into a symbol of the scourge that plagues much of hurricane-prone Louisiana - coastal erosion.

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