What will a future world shaped by accelerating climate change look like? Imagine this season’s Atlantic hurricanes and devastating flooding in India, and kick those up a notch or three, says the head of the United Nation’s Environment Programme (UNEP). As of this June, the world has already seen some 400 natural disasters (including the non-weather-related Sichuan earthquake in China) rack up damages of $82 billion. [...]
Farming near a river bed is a great idea until it floods. Soil near riverbeds tends to be more fertile, producing more abundant crops. But when the river beds flood and drench contiguous farm land, the water can drag unwanted contaminants to the farmland, exposing health risks to anyone eating the crops from the flooded land. What kinds of contaminants? Anything in the flooded water: machine oil, sewage, garbage, medical waste, manure.
The post-Katrina rebuilding effort in New Orleans has a long way to go, but some residents, activists and volunteers are celebrating one small but noteworthy step after another toward a more sustainable city.
Their efforts take on a special poignancy with the start of yet another hurricane season (it officially began on June 1, though the tropical system Arthur formed a day early around the Yucatan Peninsula). With lingering La Niña conditions and water temperatures in parts of the Gulf of Mexico already a degree or two above average, there’s reason to be concerned.
The Min River and its tributaries have 30 dams upstream from Dujiangyan and 16 incurred significant damage from the recent earthquake. The Zipingpu dam is an example where a dam failure could have disastrous consequences.
The Zipingpu reservoir can hold a staggering 1.1 billion cubic meters of water, but the dam wall was cracked after the earthquake. Dujiangyan, with a population of 600,000 would be devastated by a dam failure first. Within a couple hours, water would then hit the provincial capital, Chengdu.
In 2005 the world was aghast by the images seen on television and newspapers of the mass destruction caused to human life and the city of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.
A recent report reveals that State authorities are bolstering levees around Sacramento to prevent it from experiencing Katrina-like effects during a flood. They also hope that severe storms don’t hit the capital city before the completion of projects planned to end by 2012.
With [...]
The UK’s Environment Agency has issued flood warnings. The alert follows days of heavy rainfall.
The Agency has a special webpage dedicated to flooding, updated every 15 minutes, and as I type this, the page states the following:
1 severe flood warning
74 flood warnings
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