My conversation with David McConville, a flood-risk visualizer on a mission to boost resilience in North Carolina, LA and other communities facing rare, inevitable super deluges
It's interesting that floods occur over and over again in the same places, and it's not rocket science why.
The Appalachians get many, many inches of rainfall a year. Places like Highlands NC have averages of 80 inches or more and that's not unusual.
Two types of places can get swamped in floods. First are narrow valleys where torrents of runoff have nowhere to go. Second are built-up areas in urban flood plains, like Biltmore Village in Asheville. There have been many floods there, though this one is certainly the worst.
We haven't even heard yet about the many towns in NC river valleys, where paper mills and other river-centric industries were located. The French Broad River valley, West of Asheville, is a prime example. Many towns have been devastated that we haven't yet heard about. There has to have been great loss of life, as yet unreported.
This water disaster may bankrupt FEMA, depending on how many had flood insurance. I'm sure too few had it, since it's not dirt cheap anymore.
TVA, ironically, has probably saved Eastern Tennessee. I'm sure there's been flooding, but the many dams and impoundments have warded off disaster. Smaller river systems not prepared for flood control, like Lake Lure in NC, have been overwhelmed.
I run on about this because I've spent much of my life in the NC mountains, have seen floods there and can only imagine what they're going through now.
Although not totally irrelevant, we should probably try to separate adaption attribution. Even if CO2 accumulation made results more damaging than if there had been no CO2 accumulation since 18?? adaptive investments and decisions should have been made on the basis of expectations GIVEN the accumulation. Attributions useful in deciding how to form expectations about the future which will not be exactly like the past
It's interesting that floods occur over and over again in the same places, and it's not rocket science why.
The Appalachians get many, many inches of rainfall a year. Places like Highlands NC have averages of 80 inches or more and that's not unusual.
Two types of places can get swamped in floods. First are narrow valleys where torrents of runoff have nowhere to go. Second are built-up areas in urban flood plains, like Biltmore Village in Asheville. There have been many floods there, though this one is certainly the worst.
We haven't even heard yet about the many towns in NC river valleys, where paper mills and other river-centric industries were located. The French Broad River valley, West of Asheville, is a prime example. Many towns have been devastated that we haven't yet heard about. There has to have been great loss of life, as yet unreported.
This water disaster may bankrupt FEMA, depending on how many had flood insurance. I'm sure too few had it, since it's not dirt cheap anymore.
TVA, ironically, has probably saved Eastern Tennessee. I'm sure there's been flooding, but the many dams and impoundments have warded off disaster. Smaller river systems not prepared for flood control, like Lake Lure in NC, have been overwhelmed.
I run on about this because I've spent much of my life in the NC mountains, have seen floods there and can only imagine what they're going through now.
Please keep these people in your prayers.
Although not totally irrelevant, we should probably try to separate adaption attribution. Even if CO2 accumulation made results more damaging than if there had been no CO2 accumulation since 18?? adaptive investments and decisions should have been made on the basis of expectations GIVEN the accumulation. Attributions useful in deciding how to form expectations about the future which will not be exactly like the past