These Caribbean islands are building their first artificial reef against climate-fuelled hurricanes

Excerpt and Photo from euronews.com

With warmer oceans serving as fuel, Atlantic hurricanes are now more than twice as likely as before to rapidly intensify.

The US territory is seeking to become more resilient ahead of climate-fuelled storms, officials announced on Thursday.

The 18-foot (5-metre) by 12-foot (4-metre) reef will be installed near the coast around St Thomas and is expected to be completed by July, according to the islands’ department of planning and natural resources.

The project will be funded by more than $760,000 (€693,000) in federal money awarded to the University of the Virgin Islands after hurricanes Irma and Maria pounded the land in 2017.

Jean-Pierre L. Oriol, the department’s commissioner, said university officials are choosing the strongest specimens from more than a dozen types of coral in nurseries to attach to the artificial reef.