Floods

[Archimid]

I did a search and couldn't find a floods topic in the consequences section. If there is one, my apologies.

That said:

How can Peru prepare to withstand more devastating floods and landslides?

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/apr/13/peru-prevent-floods-landslides-climate-change

Extract:

More than 100 people have died, nearly 158,000 are displaced and 210,000 homes are damaged, according to Peru’s emergency operations centre. The country’s infrastructure took a big hit: 260 bridges collapsed and nearly 3,000km of roads are unusable, cutting off hundreds of villages and towns.

[Archimid]

Colombia landslides: Over 200 die in Putumayo floods

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39468575

Extract:

Hours of heavy rains overnight caused rivers to burst their banks, flooding homes with mud in Putumayo province.

[Archimid]

Flooding Leaves Millions Without Water in Santiago, Chile

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/27/world/americas/santiago-chile-flooding-mudslides.html

Extract:

The mudslides and floods in turn contaminated the Maipo River, a main source of drinking water for much of Santiago and the surrounding metropolitan region. The water utility Aguas Andinas, whose plants draw from the river, suspended service on Sunday for about 1.5 million customers, affecting a total of about five million residents.

[Neven]

This used to go in the Weird Weather thread, but I see no harm in a thread of its own. So, thanks for opening, Archimid.

[gerontocrat]

New Zealand currently enjoying the tail end of cyclones Debbie and Cook.

[DrTskoul]

"Enjoying"   

[Archimid]

Historic Flooding Far From Over: Hundreds of Roads Closed and Vital Waterways Shut Down

https://weather.com/news/news/flooding-missouri-arkansas-illinois-midwest

Extract

Nine deaths have been blamed on flooding in several states across the Midwest and South.

Hundreds of other roads have also been closed by flooding.

Parts of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers are shut down.

[TerryM]

Big floods in Quebec. Sorry no link.
Terry

[wili]

Here ya go: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/floods-drive-1900-homes-canadas-quebec-47259298

[TerryM]

Thanks Wili


Where I'm at no more floods is the new norm. Spring flood here had been a yearly occurrence.
Ice would break up, form dams, and downtown was accessible by canoe or rowboat.


Today the river doesn't freeze over, There hasn't been a week in ten years that I haven't seen my grass, and millions of dollars worth of flood control infrastructure goes unused.


I spoke with an archaeologist who was working a Pre-Columbian site a few miles down the river close to the present riverbanks. It had never been flooded until settlers cleared the forests and drained the swamps. Perhaps, in this one instance we're returning the river to it's former state.


But at what a price.
Terry

[ghoti]

The Ottawa River is flooding extensively. It is clearly at record heights as evidenced by water over topping a retaining wall at the almost completed new hydro electric generating station built in Ottawa. Structures like that are designed for expected high water conditions and it wasn't sufficient. The red arrow in the photo points to where a wall should have been 5+ feet above the water level.

They used the excavator to pile fill to keep the water out and move the shoreline that was eroding back.

[Archimid]

Worst Canadian Flood in Decades Footage Compilation (May 8-9 2017)

[DrTskoul]

The Injustice of Atlantic City’s Floods

New Jersey's working class are forgotten as federal government funds fixes for wealthier neighborhoods

[Sigmetnow]

Climate change -- and overbuilt levees, and land-use changes -- have led to multiple recent floods around St. Louis, Missouri.

Two catastrophic floods in less than two years wasn't just a case of bad luck

Residents of waterlogged communities along the Meramec River and other swollen area waterways have experienced something unusual for the region.

In a span of just 16 months, the people of cities like Eureka, Pacific and Valley Park have twice braced for and dealt with so-called “100-year” floods that have left damage, financial loss and heartache in their wake. Now, as the floodwater recedes in some communities, residents are left wondering how soon the next catastrophic flood will arrive.
...

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/river-constriction-and-wetter-climate-leave-area-vulnerable-to-more/article_33e07bfa-16dd-575b-8e18-9a6e2a2eebd0.html

[TerryM]

Climate change -- and overbuilt levees, and land-use changes -- have led to multiple recent floods around St. Louis, Missouri.

Two catastrophic floods in less than two years wasn't just a case of bad luck

Residents of waterlogged communities along the Meramec River and other swollen area waterways have experienced something unusual for the region.

In a span of just 16 months, the people of cities like Eureka, Pacific and Valley Park have twice braced for and dealt with so-called “100-year” floods that have left damage, financial loss and heartache in their wake. Now, as the floodwater recedes in some communities, residents are left wondering how soon the next catastrophic flood will arrive.
...

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/river-constriction-and-wetter-climate-leave-area-vulnerable-to-more/article_33e07bfa-16dd-575b-8e18-9a6e2a2eebd0.html

199 yrs ? 198 yrs? 198.4 yrs? Next month?
Damn, prognostication's hard - especially when it's about the future -
Terry

[Sigmetnow]

Bill McKibben:  So, at the moment, big and deadly floods underway in Jamaica, Haiti, DR, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Kenya. http://floodlist.com

https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/865938710042378241

[Sigmetnow]

Urban flood mitigation in Tokyo.

G-Cans Project, Tokyo – Japan’s $2.6 Billion Flood Tunnel

The Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge system was built to handle flooding from monsoon-season typhoons, not storm surges from the ocean, and has been used over 70 times, says Takashi Komiyama, head of the pump station. He adds that the system has proven itself effective, reducing damage in terms of the number of homes and area flooded by two-thirds.

http://floodlist.com/protection/g-cans-project-tokyo-flood-tunnel

[Tor Bejnar]

cross post:

So much for the seed vault being built for eternity... 

Arctic stronghold of world’s seeds flooded after permafrost melts

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/19/arctic-stronghold-of-worlds-seeds-flooded-after-permafrost-melts

Abstract:
"It was designed as an impregnable deep-freeze to protect the world’s most precious seeds from any global disaster and ensure humanity’s food supply forever. But the Global Seed Vault, buried in a mountain deep inside the Arctic circle, has been breached after global warming produced extraordinary temperatures over the winter, sending meltwater gushing into the entrance tunnel.

The vault is on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen and contains almost a million packets of seeds, each a variety of an important food crop. When it was opened in 2008, the deep permafrost through which the vault was sunk was expected to provide “failsafe” protection against “the challenge of natural or man-made disasters”.

But soaring temperatures in the Arctic at the end of the world’s hottest ever recorded year led to melting and heavy rain, when light snow should have been falling. “It was not in our plans to think that the permafrost would not be there and that it would experience extreme weather like that,” said Hege Njaa Aschim, from the Norwegian government, which owns the vault."

[Sigmetnow]

Why Rains and Flooding Are Plaguing America
- Weather pattern pumped moisture across U.S. throughout season
- Warmer Gulf of Mexico waters allowed storms to recharge

To understand why heavy rains and widespread flooding have plagued the U.S. this spring, go to the Pacific Ocean.

Last winter, a pool of cool water set up next to a warm patch across the northern Pacific, said Paul Pastelok, lead long range forecaster at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania. “This led to an avenue for storms that came off the East Asian coast. Instead of dying out, they traveled along that avenue and maintained their strength.” It’s the same phenomenon that delivered a warm winter and ended California’s unprecedented drought....

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-26/a-hot-cold-patch-in-the-pacific-ocean-is-dumping-rain-on-america

[Archimid]

How Rising Seas Drowned the Flood Insurance Program

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/how-rising-seas-drowned-the-flood-insurance-program-21484

Extract:

Recently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pumped more than ten million cubic yards of sand from offshore dredges to widen Long Beach Island’s beaches and dunes – part of a Sisyphean-like effort to protect the island’s $15 billion of high-calorie real estate. But there is a problem. The sand keeps washing away. A series of storms over the last two years gouged the neatly groomed beaches, costing tens of millions in additional repairs. When all is said and done, the project will cost more than half a billion dollars, most of the money paid by U.S. taxpayers.

[oren]

Fighting against the sea in such a manner is sheer idiocy. At such costs, it is the very definition of unsustainable, especially given accelerating sea level rise. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses, the earlier the better.

[Archimid]

I agree. I think their experience tells them that this too shall pass, as it always have. They think they just have to ride the rough times and then things will get better.  In this case that experience is our worst enemy because with SLR and CC this is only going to get worse.

[CalamityCountdown]

At least for now, global sea level rise continues it's multi decade pattern of reverting to the trend of 3+ mm of rise per year. https://www.aviso.altimetry.fr/en/data/products/ocean-indicators-products/mean-sea-level.html  After a big jump in late 2014 and 2015, there has been a decline in global sea level over the past two years. Will we get a bounce back year with an unusually large rise in sea level during the Trump administration, and a related increase in sunny day flooding?

Given how big a "nuisance" sunny day flooding is already, how severe will the problem become if we get a couple of years of abnormally large increases in sea level rise? How much deeper underwater will the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) get once sea level begins to rise again

[Sigmetnow]

Cyclone Mora: Bangladesh tries to evacuate one million

Bangladeshi authorities are trying to evacuate up to a million people before a powerful cyclone makes landfall.

Cyclone Mora is likely to hit the eastern coast early on Tuesday, the meteorological department said.

Port cities in the south-east have been asked to display the highest warning system known as "great danger level 10". Ports further west are on level 8.

The cyclone formed after heavy rains in Sri Lanka caused floods and landslides that killed at least 180 people.

The worst flooding in 14 years on the island has affected the lives of more than half a million people. More than 100 people remain missing....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/40087344

[Sigmetnow]

"The monsoon rains are the the worst to hit Sri Lanka since 2003. They come after two months of drought, which had grown severe enough to warrant aid from the World Food Programme."

Sri Lanka floods: Battle to rescue stranded as death toll mounts

(CNN) Severe flooding brought on by monsoon rains across southwestern portions of Sri Lanka has resulted in the deaths of at least 169 people, according to the country's Ministry of Disaster Management.

As many as 112 people are still missing, and the death toll is expected to rise, as authorities battle to rescue those still stranded and warn of the possibility of crocodile attacks.

"It was only the next morning that troops arrived in boats, and took us to safe ground," Banakiyanage Gnanawathie, who lives in the badly hit town of Matara, told CNN by phone.

"I have never seen such floods though I have spent my entire lifetime in Matara. We have lost all our belongings and remain in the clothes we wore. I am still happy we escaped the floods and even the crocodiles," she said.

She said that they won't be able to return home for days.  "There is only a roof and building. We have lost everything else."

The heavy rain occurred over a very short period of time, leading to the displacement of 112,000 people, according to Pradeep Kodippily, spokesman for Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Center. Almost half a million people have been affected by the flooding.

The bout of severe weather has also triggered landslides throughout the country.

The southern coastal city of Galle has seen 223 millimeters (8.78 inches) of rainfall over the past 48 hours, and Ratnapura, further inland, has experienced 453 millimeters (17.8 inches) of rain over the same period.
...

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/05/28/asia/sri-lanka-floods/index.html

[Sigmetnow]

Brazil

“The Paraíba, Mundaú, Coruripe, San Miguel and Jacuípe rivers have all overflowed, according to official reports.  Rainfall totals over the last 7 days were 25% of normal annual averages and thought to be higher than the rainfall totals of the 2010 floods.”

Brazil – 7 Dead, Thousands Displaced After Floods and Landslides in North East
http://floodlist.com/america/brazil-floods-pernambuco-alagoas-may-2017

[Sigmetnow]

Deadly 600 mm (23.6 in) of rain within 11 hours floods Taiwan, shuts down nuclear plant

...
Brutal amounts of rainfall hit northern Taiwan today, June 2, 2017, killing at least 1 person, leaving 2 missing and injuring more than 20. Heavy rain toppled electricity pylon near New Taipei's Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in the automatic shutdown of the plant.
...

https://watchers.news/2017/06/02/taiwan-flood-nuclear-plant-shut-down/

[Sigmetnow]

Australia:  "Local authorities failed to properly respond to last year's flood emergency in Tasmania's north-west, a report has found."

Tasmania flood report finds emergency response failures at Latrobe
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-05/report-finds-tasmania-latrobe-flood-response-failures/8589166

[Sigmetnow]

Jim Cantore:  Tremendous tropical rains across south Florida in spots. Almost 15 inches (381mm) measured.
2 more days of rounds of rain possible. #FLwx
https://twitter.com/jimcantore/status/872189927047483392

"Sawgrass Mills Mall in South Florida (the biggest mall in the SE) is CLOSED today due to flooding. This is a big deal… #flwx"
https://twitter.com/reaganmatt/status/872445500460589059

[jai mitchell]

New Orleans is projected to receive ~250mm (10 inches) of rain over a 24 hour period in a few days  https://earth.nullschool.net/#2017/06/21/1800Z/wind/surface/level/overlay=precip_3hr/orthographic=-96.36,28.97,3000/loc=-89.773,30.504

[Archimid]

Not a flood, because California has the technology to contain the melt waer, but I imagine the same will happen in other places with less sound infrastructure.

12 billion gallons of water pour into Lake Tahoe amid this week's heat wave

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Lake-Tahoe-filling-up-snow-melt-run-off-Sierra-11242256.php

The process of the Sierra Nevada spring snow melt sped up this week as a heat wave brought triple-digit temperatures to parts of the Western United States. A thawing snowpack that's massive after a brutal winter fed rivers and reservoirs with high-flowing runoff. One place that saw a stunning impact from all the runoff is Lake Tahoe.  More than 12 billion gallons of water poured into the lake over the past week.

[Sigmetnow]

California's snowpack decreased from 164% of normal on June 13 -- to 121% of normal on June 23 (most recent reading).

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/sweq.action

[wili]

http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2017/06/rising-seas-could-result-2-billion-refugees-2100

2 billion refugees from SLR alone by 2100.

And like all such prognostications, it's probably quite conservative.

[Sigmetnow]

"A full 62% of all @NWS Flash Flood Warnings issued from last Tuesday-Friday fell outside the cone of #Cindy"

Maps/GIF at the link: https://twitter.com/michaelrlowry/status/879371332391235584

[rboyd]

UK Weather Forecast: Met Office Warns Of A Month Of Rain In Just A Day

"For the region taking in London and the south east, there could be up to 60mm of rain between now and Wednesday morning – that’s equivalent to almost the entire average rainfall for June (which is 56mm) for the same region."

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/uk-weather-forecast-met-office-warns-of-a-month-of-rain-in-just-a-day_uk_595262f1e4b05c37bb796768?utm_hp_ref=uk

[Darvince]

http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2017/06/rising-seas-could-result-2-billion-refugees-2100

2 billion refugees from SLR alone by 2100.

And like all such prognostications, it's probably quite conservative.

I don't think this one is conservative, because I don't think people will be stupid enough to move into places like Miami or Shanghai once SLR has accelerated to a sufficient level that everyone notices it. We'll just have to move all the people out of the low-lying areas rather than moving people who moved there out as well.

And I say "just" as if it's going to be an easy thing! Oh lordy!

[wili]

I'm glad you have such a high opinion of human collective intelligence. But if we are so smart, how did we get ourselves into this fix in the first place? 

I see little indication of this lack of stupidity so far, even among people who are otherwise quite smart... relatives of mine retired to a coastal property right on Chesapeake Bay; a beautiful spot, but one that, even if it is not inundated before they die, is likely to see a big loss of value and of insurability.

 And of course the vast majority are those who don't have resources to just up and move away from their sources of income.

The time to start relocating people from Miami and Shanghai (not to mention entire regions/provinces such as Jiangsu) was probably about a decade ago, but no such plans are underway anywhere in the world as far as I know, though some island nations are asking for climate refugee status, pleas that are, so far, falling on deaf ears. Miami, of course, is in a state where you get fired from the state government for even using the words 'global warming' in public. Soooo, not there's plenty of stupid to go around, apparently.

And yeah, none of this is going to be remotely easy, and the longer we put off looking at these things squarely, the harder it is going to be.

[oren]

So many collective resources could be saved just by stopping new building activities in low-lying areas, and letting the paid-for buildings and infrastructure live out their useful life. But the human race doesn't work that way.
As a sidenote, the issue is not "just" relocating the people. All those buildings underwater will be a major problem of pollution and shipping hazards (assuming civilization still functions at that time). Dismantling them properly would be a major resource drain, though I highly doubt anyone would bother.

[rboyd]

All those nuclear reactors at sea level, with all that radioactive waste - even after they are shut down. Like Turkey Point in Florida and many others on the US coasts:

As Sea Levels Rise, Are Coastal Nuclear Plants Ready?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/energy/2015/12/151215-as-sea-levels-rise-are-coastal-nuclear-plants-ready/

[Sigmetnow]

New Orleans, part of Jefferson swamped in near-8-inch deluge

Heavy rains nearing 8 inches in some spots caused widespread flooding Saturday (Aug. 5) that swamped numerous vehicles and some businesses throughout much of New Orleans and parts of Jefferson Parish.

The areas affected including parts of the city where residents said they had not experienced this type of flooding until recently, including Mid-City, the 7th Ward and parts of Gentilly. In some spots, the water reached more than 3 feet. In Gentilly, the Peoples Avenue Canal may have been temporarily overtopped, the city said, but there were no breaches.

Cedric Grant, executive director of the Sewerage and Water Board, said that the city's pump system had been fully operational throughout the downpour but was straining to keep up. The agency said the city's pump system is designed to handle one inch of rain in the first hour and a half-inch of rain every hour after that. He told WVUE Fox 8 News that the system was overwhelmed.

http://www.nola.com/weather/index.ssf/2017/08/flooding_new_orleans_saturday.html

[Castaldo]

The Ottawa River is flooding extensively. It is clearly at record heights as evidenced by water over topping a retaining wall at the almost completed new hydro electric generating station built in Ottawa. Structures like that are designed for expected high water conditions and it wasn't sufficient. The red arrow in the photo points to where a wall should have been 5+ feet above the water level.

They used the excavator to pile fill to keep the water out and move the shoreline that was eroding back.

Smart, looks like it worked pretty good.

[wili]

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/14/hundreds-buried-alive-in-massive-sierra-leone-mudslides-and-floods/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_wv-sierraleone-11am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.40c4f782585a

Hundreds buried alive in massive Sierra Leone mudslides and floods

!!!

[Forest Dweller]

Sierra Leone death toll 300+ now and 600 missing they are reporting here.
Indeed !!!
The reason given is...well i always loved the simplicity of this little cartoon here.

[gerontocrat]

South Asia Floods. About 250 dead

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2017/08/deadly-floods-hit-south-asian-states-170816080459925.html

Half the deaths were in Nepal plus other landslides in Himalayan Foothills of India.
Was there not an awful lot of snow in the Himalayas last winter? Can't have helped when an extra strong monsoon arrived.

[Sigmetnow]

U.S.:  Federal Flood Insurance Rebuilds Homes Over and Over, Trapping Residents in Flood-Prone Areas, Report Says

"The National Flood Insurance Program was designed to help Americans recover from flood disasters, but it can also unintentionally trap homeowners who would prefer to move somewhere safer," the NRDC said on its website. "Instead of moving out of harm’s way, many policyholders find themselves rebuilding their homes again and again."

https://weather.com/amp/science/environment/news/flood-insurance-building-residents-trapped.html

[Sigmetnow]

Torrential rains cause historic flooding, strand residents in southern Kansas City
http://www.kansascity.com/weather/article168573032.html

NWS Kansas City:

Official rain measurements from the last month:
Johnson CO Exec Arpt 19.89
Lees Summit Arpt 21.66
NWS Office-Pleasant Hill 18.78

Average rainfall for the last month in the KC Metro is around 4"...so those totals we just sent out are 4-5 times normal for the period.

https://twitter.com/nwskansascity/status/899980243095756802

[solartim27]

I don't think this one is conservative, because I don't think people will be stupid enough to move into places like Miami or Shanghai once SLR has accelerated to a sufficient level that everyone notices it. We'll just have to move all the people out of the low-lying areas rather than moving people who moved there out as well.

Apologies for the late reply, but plenty of people are noticing.  I would like to see the owner occupancy stats for the Miami area, as in how high is the market propped by speculative investors and money launderers.
https://climatecrocks.com/2017/08/15/another-dress-rehearsal-for-a-drowned-miami/
https://climatecrocks.com/2017/07/31/in-florida-as-seas-rise-many-still-dont-believe-their-lying-eyes/

And just a great video here, showing new elevated construction on a sewage flooded street, where pumps will never be installed (at 6:30 minutes in, but watch the whole thing)
https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2016/12/as-seas-rise-miami-development-continues-unabated/

Then there's the denial of flood claims because your first floor business is now a 'basement'
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article115264938.html

(Edit: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/miamidadecountyflorida,US/PST045216 shows 54% owner occupied versus 64% national rate, for 2011 - 2015)

[Sigmetnow]

Flooding from Hurricane Harvey has so far affected about a quarter of the Texas population, or 6.8 million people in 18 counties.

Rescuers pluck hundreds from rising floodwaters in Houston
http://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/wireStory/rescuers-pluck-hundreds-rising-floodwaters-houston-49461841

[Sigmetnow]

Advice from a Hurricane Harvey flood victim.
Also:  if the water in your home is nearing your electrical sockets, turn off the power to the house, if you can do it without standing in water yourself.

Edit:  And turn off any gas supply!

https://twitter.com/saracress/status/901979432570806272

[Sigmetnow]

"Mumbai, city of 18 million, 'brought to its knees' today by epic flooding--10x usual monsoon rain"
https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/902547463910842368


With Ten Times the Usual Rain, Mumbai Heads Towards Imminent Flood
According to the weathermen, this could be the worst rain since July 2005, when the city was devastated by floods.
http://www.news18.com/amp/news/india/with-ten-times-the-usual-rain-mumbai-heads-towards-imminent-flood-1504367.html