Yeah, they should have been tables. Even better, just one table for all locations, to encourage comparisons. Because each area currently shows different statistics, the article could be giving a distorted view, by showing just the most negative news and hiding positive news.

Aside from that, I think the graphs should be rotated 90 degrees so decline is down and time progresses to the right.

I dislike the ugly color choice, but that's at least somewhat defensible on a11y grounds.