Vermont just got slammed with flash floods, road closures, and evacuations. Harvard’s Juliette Kayyem says the storm reveals how unprepared the US is for the present moment, when natural disasters are more frequent and more intense than ever before.

This episode was produced by Jon Ehrens and Miles Bryan, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard with help from Amanda Lewellyn, engineered by Michael Raphael, and hosted by Noel King.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained

Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices