Thankfully, the damage wrought by Hurricane Irma on the continental US so far seems much less than expected, though far from trivial. Still, the Florida Keys were heavily affected, and the situations in Saint Martin and Barbuda are horrendous, with 90 to 95% of structures destroyed on each island.

Perversely,  I find myself thinking of my sister and others in Beaumont. That small Texas city was badly affected by Hurricane Rita, but had trouble getting needed aid because Rita closely followed Katrina; some work crews were shifted directly from Katrina to Rita without passing Go. Beaumont was also badly hit by Harvey, but Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city *, with a Big Port, national sports teams, and NASA, got most of the headlines, and presumably will continue to dominate rebuilding funds and plans. Houston may become more sympathetic to Beaumont if–when?– Irma replaces Harvey as disaster du jour. Then there’s Hurricane Jose, still roving about the Atlantic, deciding on a landfall path.

The weather map showing Katia, Irma, and Jose lined up left-to-right across the Gulf of Mexico was startling, even to someone who grew up in Houston. Katia? Yes, it was a hurricane! It hit the east coast of Mexico last week, just after a magnitude 8.1 earthquake off the west coast killed over 90 people in that country.

Near-continual coverage of natural disasters past and future this week included a report about construction worker shortages in Houston. I was aware that strict immigration laws have reduced availability of farm workers, but I did not realize that undocumented workers comprise about half of the construction workers in Texas. Recently, these workers have been leaving the country, or moving to more welcoming states, and home construction prices had already risen 30% in Texas as a result. Now the lack of workers is slowing the post-Harvey rebuild.

Is it possible that the Powers Who control the universe are sending a message about climate change and immigration policy? I would say Unlikely, but then, I’m not a Believer. If such a Power were sending a message, I would commend It for crystal clear communication skills.

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* If you’re like me, every time you hear that you think, Which city is third largest? Answer: Chicago. If the largest and second largest aren’t obvious to you, consider remedial geography.