The Maryland Flooding Is a Warning

Slate Magazine ^ | May 29, 2018 | By HENRY GRABAR

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Climate change is hitting America as rain, and we’re making it worse.

Two years ago, Ellicott City, Maryland, was hit by a debilitating flash flood that turned the town’s historic Main Street into a raging muddy river. Scientists said the July 2016 rainstorm was a once-in-a-thousand-year event.

But on Sunday it happened again: 7 to 9 inches of rain fell in the area, 10 miles west of Baltimore, and another torrent swept cars and trees through town.

It’s a reminder that heavy rain, rather than rising seas, may be the earliest severe consequence of climate change. We’ve prepared for it in the worst way possible.

But climate change isn’t the only reason these disasters aren’t quite natural. Unchecked sprawl has built a concrete funnel around Ellicott City. “All this natural vegetation that would act as sponges is being replaced by concrete and impervious surfaces,” explains Stephen Strader, a professor at Villanova who studies environmental risk.

[Jamestown1630]

Let’s hope it’s over soon.

The only good thing I can say about it is that the rain has calmed-down what has been a very unusual pollen season. I’ve never been as sick with allergies as I was from first of April through middle of May. And even when it had rained the day before, we’d go out to the car in the morning, and it was golden with pollen again.

I’ve been able to breathe when I lie down to sleep, the last couple of weeks ;-)