Floods in different parts of globe 'are mostly manmade'
Over recent weeks the damage caused by hurricanes in the US has received massive media coverage, but flood disasters have also hit many other parts of the world, from Nepal and Cambodia to Ghana and the Congo Republic.
The climate change industry is divided over how to link the flooding with man-made global warming or how to spin the disasters.
Michael Mann, an American professor of atmospheric science, wrote in the Guardian, for example, that "we cannot say climate change ‘caused’ Hurricane Harvey" but it "worsened the impact".
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), based in Geneva, on the other hand, wanted more data before making links between the various flood disasters and global warming.
“We know climate change is influencing the capacity of the atmosphere to hold water but it is hard to attribute this to individual flooding events,” said WMO's Paolo Ruti.
But a report in the Guardian pointed to a very different cause of the flooding in cities from Houston, Texas, to Lagos in Nigeria and Mumbai in India - urban development.
“These floods are mostly man-made," said T Ramachandra, who heads energy and wetlands research at the Indian Institute of Science. "They are not natural disasters. They are very similar, and largely because of concretisation.”
The flooding is due to rushed economic development in India, China and elsewhere, and the ditching of ecological sense in favour of explosive growth.
Cities, he pointed out, have expanded into marshes, wetlands and flood-prone areas as populations have grown and people have moved from rural to urban areas in search of work.
Poor infrastructure and the rapid, unchecked sprawl of cities on to places that usually absorb excess rainwater have led to flooding.
For Ramachandra, “Banglalore is typical. It has tripled in size since 1995, the temperature in the city has risen by 2C and since 2000 it has flooded regularly.
"It is experiencing unprecedented, unrealistic and irresponsible urbanisation and sprawl.
"Most of the vegetation has been lost, 75% of the city surface is impervious to water and the 2,500 lakes which used to store water have been drained for development.”
Meanwhile, in Houston more than 1 million people have moved lo live in flood-prone areas since 2000, overwhelming the city’s ability to drain water. An investigation last year predicted the flooding there.
“As millions have flocked to the metropolitan area in recent decades," said the report, "local officials have largely snubbed stricter building regulations, allowing developers to pave over crucial acres of prairie land that once absorbed huge amounts of rainwater.
"That has led to an excess of floodwater during storms that chokes the city’s vast bayou network, drainage systems, and two huge federally owned reservoirs, endangering many nearby homes.”
Inevitably the poor are the people most at risk. "When storms or floods hit cities, it is generally low-income groups that are hit hardest," said David Satterthwaite of the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development.
"Many informal settlements develop on land at high risk of flooding or landslides because their inhabitants cannot afford safer sites.”
Given that informal settlements around the globe are often stigmatised and denied basic provisions, emergency responses and support are also often weak.
The climate change industry is divided over how to link the flooding with man-made global warming or how to spin the disasters.
Michael Mann, an American professor of atmospheric science, wrote in the Guardian, for example, that "we cannot say climate change ‘caused’ Hurricane Harvey" but it "worsened the impact".
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), based in Geneva, on the other hand, wanted more data before making links between the various flood disasters and global warming.
“We know climate change is influencing the capacity of the atmosphere to hold water but it is hard to attribute this to individual flooding events,” said WMO's Paolo Ruti.
But a report in the Guardian pointed to a very different cause of the flooding in cities from Houston, Texas, to Lagos in Nigeria and Mumbai in India - urban development.
“These floods are mostly man-made," said T Ramachandra, who heads energy and wetlands research at the Indian Institute of Science. "They are not natural disasters. They are very similar, and largely because of concretisation.”
The flooding is due to rushed economic development in India, China and elsewhere, and the ditching of ecological sense in favour of explosive growth.
Cities, he pointed out, have expanded into marshes, wetlands and flood-prone areas as populations have grown and people have moved from rural to urban areas in search of work.
Poor infrastructure and the rapid, unchecked sprawl of cities on to places that usually absorb excess rainwater have led to flooding.
For Ramachandra, “Banglalore is typical. It has tripled in size since 1995, the temperature in the city has risen by 2C and since 2000 it has flooded regularly.
"It is experiencing unprecedented, unrealistic and irresponsible urbanisation and sprawl.
"Most of the vegetation has been lost, 75% of the city surface is impervious to water and the 2,500 lakes which used to store water have been drained for development.”
Meanwhile, in Houston more than 1 million people have moved lo live in flood-prone areas since 2000, overwhelming the city’s ability to drain water. An investigation last year predicted the flooding there.
“As millions have flocked to the metropolitan area in recent decades," said the report, "local officials have largely snubbed stricter building regulations, allowing developers to pave over crucial acres of prairie land that once absorbed huge amounts of rainwater.
"That has led to an excess of floodwater during storms that chokes the city’s vast bayou network, drainage systems, and two huge federally owned reservoirs, endangering many nearby homes.”
Inevitably the poor are the people most at risk. "When storms or floods hit cities, it is generally low-income groups that are hit hardest," said David Satterthwaite of the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development.
"Many informal settlements develop on land at high risk of flooding or landslides because their inhabitants cannot afford safer sites.”
Given that informal settlements around the globe are often stigmatised and denied basic provisions, emergency responses and support are also often weak.
