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One of the greatest dangers cities face from continuing climate change stems from increasingly severe floods
August 23, 2011 | 17
In developing countries, informal settlements are often most vulnerable to flooding—typically because poor people often find they can only make a home in flood-prone areas.
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Residents of industrialized countries are not immune to flood damage. Preliminary estimates from the U.S. Department of Commerce put the damage from flooding in the Midwest during the spring of 2011 between $2 billion and $4 billion....[More]
Currently about 38.5 million people living in cities around the world are at risk of suffering an extremely severe flood with water levels at the 100-year mark....[More]
A flood's massive volume of liquid and debris wreaks havoc on infrastructure, often leaving safe drinking water and ice in short supply. The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season was particularly active with 16 named storms, including eight hurricanes ....[More]
Fast-moving floods often demand that residents make snap decisions—such as whether or not to leave a pet or possessions behind—which can mean the difference between a successful exit or a failed, and possibly fatal, one....[More]
The growing number and severity of urban floods increasingly threaten key transportation infrastructure, such as trains, subways, highways and airports.
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Belowground infrastructure is especially vulnerable even when water levels on the surface are not especially high. For example, essential elements of a subway system, such as motors, relays, resistors, pumps and transformers, often must be repaired or replaced after a flood....[More]
Floods can leave behind more than just physical damage. People who are at greater risk of developing mental health problems after a flood include women and individuals who are poor, elderly, have chronic health problems, did not go to college or do not have many friends or strong family ties, according to recent research ....[More]
Cities are starting to wake up to the threat from increased flooding due to climate change. Mayors and urban managers often have a keener awareness than national leaders of the potential effects of global warming....[More]
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17 Comments
Add CommentNo mention of how Venice strategically adjusted to adverse water ingress over several hundred years. The city-state's adaptaton to flooding started well before the industrialization of the west and therefore is an inconvenient truth that doesn't play into the hyperbole within the captions to these photos.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWeather is not climate. Global warming should cause drought not flooding.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSince we have floods we could blame global cooling. Rising sea level proves that global cooling is in effect, since this happens as glaciers melt. They melt since less snow falls on them. Global warming results in more snow on glaciers, and falling sea level.
Most climate scientists do not realize that the Earth's temperature is self regulating. Rising global temperature results in larger glaciers at the poles of the Earth. Larger glaciers reflect more sunlight. As sea level falls, oceans absorb less sunlight since their area decreases.
REGARDING:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Global warming should cause drought not flooding."
Higher temperatures should cause more evaporation.
More evaporation would cause more water in the air. More water in the air would be more water to condense and produce precipitation.
More precipitation would cause more rainfall--or hail or sleet or snow.
More rainfall etc. would cause more water on the ground, hence more potential for flooding.
Melting glaciers shouldn't have anything to do with flooding since they don't tend to melt that fast even in the worst of cases.
I agree the earth should be self-regulating but we know its average temperature has varied greatly in the past, so that proves it isn’t constant. Actually, you could have the same highs and lows but have a lower average if the daily temperature stayed close to the low or a higher average if the daily temperature spent more time near the high for the day.
Much of the regulation would be convection due to vertical movement of water vapor, hence more wetness in some places.
My main point is that hotter does not necessarily mean drier.
"No mention of how Venice strategically adjusted to adverse water ingress over several hundred years."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHave you SEEN Venice? They adapted by having squares flood, by having stairs under water by having the first floor of many buildings flood.
"My main point is that hotter does not necessarily mean drier."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAbsolutely correct. The Hot equals Drier statements are just the most simpleminded. non-scientific statements.
Hot air can hold more water, air moves, temperature changes - when temp changes down water precipitates out of air. More precipitation (rain, snow, hail) is completely consistent and expected with warming climate.
Of course _some_ areas will be drier, some wetter.
We can see evidence of both around the world today.
It's easy to understand why most people are confused, most only read the headlines or titles, missing the detailed information, "Global Warming" was such an unfortunately misunderstood expression, Global Climate Change is far more descriptive but without the details of effects, they still live in blissful ignorance and are quite prepared to blame "the weather" and live in denial...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOMG...another "The Skye is Falling" article. Yes, there have been historic floods, droughts, warming and cooling. I believe its got something to do with that bright thing in the sky?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'd prefer it if we'd go back to calling it "GLOBAL WARMING" because ---- THAT'S WHAT IT IS.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIF WE CALCULATE A GLOBAL DAY NIGHT 4 SEASON AVERAGE FROM POLE TO POLE THE DAMNED PLANET IS WARMING.
May I suggest that SciAm add another button to the row
Report/Report abuse/ link to this --- I'd like to see either Denier or Irrelevant buttons that (like on Amazon) "hide" the comments that don't add to the issue. I'm tired of having to read the first line of all these time wasting moron rants and I'm sure many people are put of from commenting by the thought of having their 2 cents worth hidden among the denier lunacy.
Thank you.
You have been repeating the same disproven arguments over and over after every single article related to Global Warming. It is as if you never hear the answers. You seem to start your arguments from scratch every time, like a robot. Do you ever actually learn anything here, or are you actually paid to blow smoke and pretend that there is an actual debate going on about whether Global Warming is real?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFor anyone who actually has real questions about it, go to skepticalscience.com and click on the "arguments" tab to see every objection ever made to GM, and an intelligent discussion about each one. (By the way, "skepticalscience.ORG" appears to be an industry based website with nothing but sponsored links paid for by the fossil fuel industry.)
ContrarianBob, you seem to be suggesting that the slow subsidence of Venice over the centuries somehow disproves the idea that Global Warming causes flooding today. If you are informed enough to be aware of those problems in Venice, then it is hard to believe you are not also aware that they are due to the fact that Venice is sinking because of the wells that pull the groundwater out from under the city. It has nothing to do with Global Warming, except as an example of humans changing the environment in unexpected ways.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYour comment seems to be selectively ignorant at best, and disingenuous at worst, and seems like an attempt to blow more smoke in the so-called "debate" over Global Warming in an attempt to make those who are poorly informed think that there is some actual doubt about it. I only wonder if you are paid by the fossil fuel industry to blow smoke, or get your kicks out of it, or perhaps are doing it out of some religious conviction that humans cannot harm God's creation, or perhaps you really are that ignorant. If you are that ignorant, then I apologize for the rudeness of this comment, and urge you to visit "skepticalscience.com" to look at real scientific discussions about every question ever raised on Global Warming.
Earth's climate tends to be self-regulating because it reacts to oppose change. For example, hotter weather causes more clouds, which reflect sunlight. Global warming should cause more clouds and so less rain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSince we have floods we should blame global cooling. Rising sea level proves that global cooling is in effect, since this happens as glaciers melt. They melt since less snow falls on them. Global warming would result in more snow on glaciers, and falling sea level.
Most climate scientists are not real scientists. For example, climate scientists ignore the "law" that systems react to oppose change. Real scientists (chemists) are familiar with this "law". I think many climate scientists are scaremongers not scientists.
Exactly! Venice took hundreds of years to adjust. That change was so slow they could do it. With the ongoing climate change we don't have that time. Increased flooding is already coming.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow can you get less rain when you get more clouds? Precpitation comes from clouds. If you get more clouds, then that's because hotter climate means more avaporation and higer water contents in the atmosphere. You are contradicting yourself.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHi R.Blakely, you forgot that the glaciers at the poles are in pitch dark 6 months of the year. That is when they have no effect on the earth's albedo because they cannot reflect sunlight when it is pitch dark. Please make a correction for that in your theory.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAfter a few million more corrections you will end up with the right theory, I'm sure.
Oops another one, small mistake I mean. Clouds can only reflect sunshine during the day never at night.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh well a few more million corrections -1 to go.
Keep trying ...
Keep smiling ...
"Global warming" would increase water-vapor partial pressure in the atmosphere. This would cause more clouds, which would reflect more sunlight. More clouds would not result in more rain. Rain occurs when clouds are too cool to support the moisture.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut since sea level is rising we know that global cooling has been happening. Also, we know that carbon dioxide cannot cause more global warming since carbon dioxide already blocks all 15-micron photons. Scaremongers imagine that carbon dioxide can block more photons.
Since we cannot blame humans for global cooling, scaremongers keep using "climate change". This article is an example since it uses "continuing climate change" instead of "global cooling".
I am amazed that climate change deniers are still able to ignore what they see around them and cling to their stubborn belief that nothing is happening. In my lifetime I've seen the growing season extend by several weeks and watched our barrier beaches erode each year due to the rise of ocean levels. Once again there have been record heat waves all over the country. We've just been hammered with another hurricane on the East Coast with an unbelievable amount of flood damage. There have already been 12 named storms and it's only early September. We're seeing warm water adapted acquatic life move furhter and further up the East Coast every year as well. It's time to turn off the Fox News Network, look out your window and face reality.
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