The extreme weather that has hit the Midwest United States has experts warning that these events are a sign of things to come due to climate change. Heavy rains, strong thunderstorms, huge tornadoes, and major flooding have caused billions of dollars worth of damage in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri, and the toll has yet to subside. Experts are suggesting that we’ll need to redesign reservoirs, dams, levees, roads, bridges, sewer and stormwater systems, as well as revisit land use and zoning regulations.
In many areas, the original designs may have been built to withstand 100-year floods, but we’re seeing 500-year floods. Our built environments with large areas of impervious surfaces have put a strain on water management. Reducing runoff by installing porous pavement, grass swales and green roofs will become increasingly important.
Read this story in The Capital Times for more details regarding the impact of extreme weather in the Great Lakes Region.
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This is a wonderfully precise explanation – climate change
(not global warming which somehow has become a liberal myth description for political conservatives so they just stop listening). The 500-year floods and weather comment, versus 100-year info makes a more graphic explanation for those who have closed their ears. Thanks for this description and the ideas about the porous pavement, etc. ideas should be more palatable explanation