Environment

With Major Floods, It's "When," Not "If" For Many Cities

WAMU 88.5

Published August 29, 2017 at 9:06 AM CDT

Mari Zertuche walks through a flooded parking lot on the campus of Rice University after it was inundated with water from Hurricane Harvey.

Many parts of the United States face dual watery threats. First, giant storms like Harvey, which has dropped nine trillion gallons of water on Texas (enough to cover the lower 48 states with a puddle as deep as the height of three pennies). Then there’s the issue of rising sea levels, which, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists would make routine, chronic flooding a fact of life in hundreds more communities across the country in just a few decades (see the map below).

With both of these threats working in tandem, many cities — and not just those on the coasts — are already seeing more regular flooding and more severe occasional floods.

Are they ready?

GUESTS

Astrid Caldas, Senior Climate Scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists; @climategeek

Nancy Solomon, Managing editor, New Jersey Public Radio; @NancySolomon2

Hope Kirwan, Reporter, La Crosse bureau of Wisconsin Public Radio; @HopeKirwan

Jessica Rosgaard, Flood recovery editor, WWNO – New Orleans Public Radio; @jessicarosgaard

Kate Stein, Reporter, WLRN; @stein_katherine

For more, visit http://the1a.org.