Flood Mitigation

Many coastal and riverside communities are experiencing more frequent flooding due to subsidence and climate change. The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Laura Lightbody briefly explains flood mitigation efforts.

More:

“Pew-Led Network Helps States Plan for Rising Costs and Impacts of Flooding,” Laura Lightbody and Sarah Edwards, Pew Trusts

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“Levee Wars” Make Floods Worse

High levees are expensive, and often push water into neighboring river communities that can’t afford the same protection. Video by Ranjani Chakraborty of Vox, and Katie Campbell of ProPublica, 2018.

More:

“Environmental justice and flood prevention: The moral cost of floodwater redistribution,” Kuei-Hsien Liao, Jeffrey Kok Hui Chan, Yin-Ling Huang, Landscape and Urban Planning [abstract]

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Australia’s Inferno and Africa’s Floods

Fires are normal in Australia. This year was off the charts. A Vox video by Danush Parvaneh, Madeline Marshall, and Kimberly Mas.

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Donald Trump, Hat-Salesman-In-Chief

President Trump visited storm-wracked, flood-ravaged Texas last Tuesday and offered victims these heartfelt words of comfort: “What a crowd. What a turnout!” He was accompanied by the current Mrs. Trump, easily identified by her five-inch heels and a black baseball cap helpfully labeled “FLOTUS.” If you want to buy Melania’s disaster-zone garb, the snakeskin Manolo Blahnik stilettos will set you back $600, and you’ll have to settle for a knock-off FLOTUS cap.

But you can get her husband’s hurricane hat, an Official 45th President “U-S-A” cap, by forking over $40 to the Donald Trump Re-Election Campaign. That’s right, 7 months into his first do-nothing term, Mr. Trump is already flogging hats to fashion-forward fans to fund his 2020 run. After all, that’s how he funded his 2016 campaign, remember?

President Trump and the missus got such bad press from Tuesday’s Texas stumble that they had a do-over on Saturday. Another chance to advertise the family head-wear business.

More:

“How President Trump turned hurricane relief into product placement for campaign swag,” Jordan Libowitz, Washington Post

“Trump’s ‘USA’ Hat Criticized by Ethics Group and Those Who Don’t Like Ugly Hats,” Adam K. Raymond, New York Magazine

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Louisiana Flood

“Louisiana 1927” written by Randy Newman and recorded by him in 1974. The song was later recorded by Aaron Neville after Hurricane Katrina.

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The Texas Housing Boom: It’s a Wash

The floods in Texas have claimed lives, destroyed homes and property, washed out bridges and roads. On the other hand, observes Dennis Mersereau, at least that crippling drought is history. 20 inches of rain fell on Texas in the past month, a volume of water that’s enough to turn Rhode Island into a lake.

Texas is prone to gully-washers and toad-stranglers, thunderstorms that turn washes and arroyos into rivers, and rivers into inland seas. Every couple of decades there’s a big one, but in the past 20 years Texas gained about 10 million new residents, and many bought houses. The big problem with the resulting housing boom: New housing built in flood-prone areas.

More:

“In Texas, the Race to Build in Harm’s Way Outpaces Flood-Risk Studies and Warming Impacts,” Andrew C. Revkin, New York Times

“Texas Is Paying the Price for Its Lack of Flood Infrastructure,” Kriston Kapps, CityLab

Related:

“Texas, Oklahoma Floodwaters Contain Sewage, Other Pollutants,” Jane J. Lee, National Geographic News

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Venice: Surf’s Up!

New Yorkers learned about Storm Surge last month after a visit from Hurricane Sandy. But with climate change causing rising sea levels, Tidal Surge will be a more frequent threat to coastal cities. If you want to see New York’s future, look at Venice.

Storm Surge in New York

Hurricane Irene is now a tropical storm, but the surge caused by its huge vortex of winds has reinforced the incoming tide and caused flooding of the southern tip of Manhattan Island, including Battery Park, the ferry terminal, and the edge of the Financial District. At this time we do not know if Con Edison intends to cut off the area’s electrical power or if the Stuyvesant High School swim team is doing laps outside, on Chambers Street.

Acqua Alta

The art-infested Italian city of Venice got a good cleaning this weekend as the acqua alta high tide sloshed over ancient squares and into palazzo basements. Okay, if palazzos don’t have basements, where do they keep all that wine?

In areas of Venice that are under water, tourists and other pedestrians crowd together on narrow wooden walkways (passerelle). Water depth can range from 1 to 2 meters (about 3 feet, 3 3/5 inches to 6 feet, 6 7/10th inches). Good thing high-heeled boots are in fashion; there’s never a vacant gondola around when you need one.