If you’re watching the news tonight, you probably saw the flooding stories. If it seems like this is happening more frequently, you’re right. The graphic above comes from a Washington Post story from back in June.
The news has not gotten better since then. Here’s a sampling from a quick web search August 13, 2018.
I posted about this on August 12 — to recap some of the highlights:
The precipitation graphic shows what’s going on. What does this mean? It shows where thousands of miles of roads have increasingly inadequate drainage systems. They can be rapidly overwhelmed, leading to flash flooding and washouts. It shows where there are cities with large areas of pavement can turn into lakes in a matter of minutes because the water can’t soak into the ground and it can’t drain away fast enough. It shows where people are finding their homes are now in flood zones. Home insurance costs skyrocket, and resale values plummet.
And…
Unlike a fire, there’s no way to fight a thunderstorm. You can’t look around and see the risk as you can with an overgrown forest full of brush. You can make guesses based on past rain fall records — but what happens when the past is no longer a guide to what you can expect? You won’t know the storm sewers on your street aren’t able to keep up until that big storm hits — and you don’t know how big it is going to be when it does. You may not realize that little depression running along the edge of your property is a water course until it fills, rises up, and starts pouring into your basement.
This is one of the consequences of climate change. Warmer temperatures mean more water in the atmosphere — and more water falling out of it. The areas shown in the map above have infrastructure that was built for conditions that no longer apply. It is going to cost billions of dollars for adaptation in the years ahead, plus billions for weather event recovery — and it’s not optional.
A reminder from the National Weather Service:
Each year, more deaths occur due to flooding than from any other thunderstorm related hazard. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that over half of all flood-related drownings occur when a vehicle is driven into hazardous flood water. The next highest percentage of flood-related deaths is due to walking into or near flood waters. People underestimate the force and power of water. Many of the deaths occur in automobiles as they are swept downstream. Of these drownings, many are preventable, but too many people continue to drive around the barriers that warn you the road is flooded. A mere 6 inches of fast-moving flood water can knock over an adult. It takes just 12 inches of rushing water to carry away a small car, while 2 feet of rushing water can carry away most vehicles. It is NEVER safe to drive or walk into flood waters.
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