Heavy rain and flooding lead to emergency situations on the flood plains of German rivers every year. Are humans helping or making the situation worse?
Hmmm I had to read it twice, it seems you forgot to blame climate change for all of this - LOL your point about building on flood plains is absolutely correct - much of it related to man trying to tame nature. Speaking of nature Diane Francis wrote a great article to quote (link below)
Hysteria aside, extreme weather events throughout history — from ice ages to heat waves -- have been triggered by non-human volcanic or orbital activities. And this year is no exception. In March, scientific journal Eos revealed that this summer’s heat, are the result of a gigantic underwater volcanic eruption in January near the tiny Pacific Island of Tonga. Scientists estimate this explosion alone will be a major contributor to an increase in global temperatures for the next five years. Coverage on this was scant, as is the fact that there are at least one million underwater volcanos, and other natural phenomena, that greatly affect climate and always have. Political hysteria isn’t helpful. Humanity is to blame to a certain extent, but Mother Nature is mostly in charge.
Great summary and timely as always. Which raises a couple of questions and observations, Jörg.
Questions -
1. As you mentioned, restoring floodplains somewhere would be ideal - do you think after these floods, it may be easier to buy some farms out, or at least offer insurance to certain farmers in specific areas, such that fields can be allowed to flood if necessary?
2. Since property losses per flooding event are rising globally, typically because more people manage to keep building in floodplains (you noted that as of 2012, it’s difficult to build in floodplains but still 2000 households per year do), do you think that flood insurance will become prohibitively expensive or impossible to get for any buildings in flood plains?
3. What will be the political impacts be if flooding events become more frequent and severe (because the models show there will be more prolonged droughts, dry soils hold less water when you get the same amount of rain, a warmer atmosphere holds more water (7% per degree), etc.)?
4. Is it politically feasible to pay for infrastructure upgrades for roads and rail to prevent catastrophic destruction (like what happened in the Ahr Valley)?
Hmmm I had to read it twice, it seems you forgot to blame climate change for all of this - LOL your point about building on flood plains is absolutely correct - much of it related to man trying to tame nature. Speaking of nature Diane Francis wrote a great article to quote (link below)
Hysteria aside, extreme weather events throughout history — from ice ages to heat waves -- have been triggered by non-human volcanic or orbital activities. And this year is no exception. In March, scientific journal Eos revealed that this summer’s heat, are the result of a gigantic underwater volcanic eruption in January near the tiny Pacific Island of Tonga. Scientists estimate this explosion alone will be a major contributor to an increase in global temperatures for the next five years. Coverage on this was scant, as is the fact that there are at least one million underwater volcanos, and other natural phenomena, that greatly affect climate and always have. Political hysteria isn’t helpful. Humanity is to blame to a certain extent, but Mother Nature is mostly in charge.
Great summary and timely as always. Which raises a couple of questions and observations, Jörg.
Questions -
1. As you mentioned, restoring floodplains somewhere would be ideal - do you think after these floods, it may be easier to buy some farms out, or at least offer insurance to certain farmers in specific areas, such that fields can be allowed to flood if necessary?
2. Since property losses per flooding event are rising globally, typically because more people manage to keep building in floodplains (you noted that as of 2012, it’s difficult to build in floodplains but still 2000 households per year do), do you think that flood insurance will become prohibitively expensive or impossible to get for any buildings in flood plains?
3. What will be the political impacts be if flooding events become more frequent and severe (because the models show there will be more prolonged droughts, dry soils hold less water when you get the same amount of rain, a warmer atmosphere holds more water (7% per degree), etc.)?
4. Is it politically feasible to pay for infrastructure upgrades for roads and rail to prevent catastrophic destruction (like what happened in the Ahr Valley)?