Prophetic article from June on Houston

[FLPanhandle]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/16/texas-flooding-houston-climate-change-disaster

Houston fears climate change will cause catastrophic flooding: 'It's not if, it's when'

Sam Brody is not a real estate agent, but when his friends want to move home they get in touch to ask for advice. He is a flood impact expert in Houston – and he has plenty of work to keep him busy.

The Texas metropolis has more casualties and property loss from floods than any other locality in the US, according to data stretching back to 1960 that Brody researched with colleagues. And, he said: “Where the built environment is a main force exacerbating the impacts of urban flooding, Houston is number one and it’s not even close.”

Near the Gulf coast, Houston is also at annual risk from hurricanes: it is now into the start of the 2017 season, which runs from June to November. Ike, the last hurricane to hit the Houston region, caused $34bn in damage and killed 112 people across several states in September 2008.

There is little hope the situation is going to get better any time soon. Earlier this month, days after Donald Trump announced the US will withdraw from the Paris accord on climate change, a new report warned that rare US floods will become the norm if emissions are not cut.



“Houston is situated in a low-lying coastal area with poorly draining soils and is subject to heavy rainfall events and storm surge events, which makes it very prone to flooding. And the climate is changing. In Galveston Bay the sea level is rising. We know the area is experiencing more heavy downpours,” Brody said.

“It pales in comparison with the other driving force, which is the built environment. If you’re going to put 4 million people in this flood-vulnerable area in a way which involves ubiquitous application of impervious surfaces, you’re going to get flooding.”

In other words: there is a lot of concrete in Houston. In 2000, 4.7 million people lived in the Houston metropolitan area. Now the population is about 6.5 million. While efforts are under way to densify and improve public transport in the urban core, much of the growth has been suburban, where houses are big and cheap and commuters drive long distances on some of the world’s widest freeways. The city keeps loosening its belt: a third ring-road cuts through exurbs some 30 miles from downtown, spurring more expansion.

[BigmanPigman]

1. How can the city planners in flood prone cities

be allowed to continue to expand? They should invest in saving what they currently have, especially since this is going to continue and become even worse as climate change is here and now?

[FLPanhandle]

2. Just too many human beings

They all have to go somewhere and most people live on the coast.

[TheBlackAdder]

3. This is where the state's EPA might be fucking up.

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NJ learned their lesson with places like Bound Brook, where urban expansion caused a shitload of development. The reconstruction of suburban roadways brought with it drainage right into the rivers. There is less ground to absorb the water, and anything hitting roadways, parking lots or buildings is channeled off the property. So, instead of the ground being soaked and flooded for a little bit, expansion causes water to be immediately discharged from the developed sites and right into the waterways, draining into larger rivers and then the ocean.


When severe rainfalls occur, places like these cause the rivers downstream to exceed their banks and chronic flooding occurs. This is a result of upstream development. Over the years, all new developments must have their own retention basins and smaller drainage pipes to slowly introduce water buildup into the streams, instead of dumping the water as fast as possible. Many developers complain about the wasted land that is required for these basins, but it is something that the state's EPA forces to happen.


Perhaps Texas is one of those states where the EPA does not enforce these types of designs. I know a lot of RW states want to maximize developer and business profit, but at what cost? This goes beyond the city's EPA group, as most of this flooding seems to be caused by upstream suburban water discharge.

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