Climate change and less federal money may hit states hard

The tornado hit the suburbs east of New Orleans at lunchtime on a mild Tuesday in February. The twister spun across midcentury ranch houses still bearing spray-painted symbols that search-and-rescue squads left after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At its calmest, the tornado tugged at asphalt shingles. At its most vicious, it flipped cars and snatched entire roofs and walls. Winds of roughly 150 mph hopped over Chef Menteur Highway, and by the time the tornado fizzled out over Lake Borgne, it had caused millions of dollars in damage. Together with a cluster of other windstorms, it became the seventh presidentially declared major disaster of 2017. States have come to rely on these declarations, and