Cities of the Future: Flood Preparation
Tokyo has a $2 billion underground anti-flood system that was completed in 2006. The New York Times has called it “an extraordinary example of the defenses that global cities are readying as they face an era of extreme weather brought on by climate change.” It’s the world’s largest underground flood water diversion facility. What do cities here in the United States need to do to prepare for floods and the often extreme unpredictable weather that causes them? Recently, Houston officials have asked for state and federal funds to help build a $400 million reservoir that could keep stormwater from destroying downstream neighborhoods.
But, with many of these storms being recorded with unprecedented water levels, frequency, damage, and loss of life, how does a city deem protections as being strong enough? “Across Japan, rainfall measuring more than 2 inches an hour has increased 30 percent over the past three decades, the Japan Meteorological Agency estimates. The frequency of rainfall of more than 3 inches an hour has jumped 70 percent. The agency attributes the increase of these intense rains to global warming, heralding a new era in a country that is among the world’s wettest, with a language that has dozens of words for rain.” The cost for these flood protection measures can cost hundreds of millions — to billions — of dollars.
Additionally, Japan has already dammed most of its major river systems — fortifying entire shorelines with breakwaters and concrete blocks. Further protections might only encourage development in regions that still might be vulnerable to flooding. On top of infrastructure updates, cities need to invest in community education— systems that keep them updated with current conditions as well as public awareness in local disaster survival like evacuation methods and flood hazard maps. For instance, a program in the coastal city of Kamaishi, Japan that drilled schoolchildren to run to higher ground in the event of a tsunami is credited with saving some 3,000 lives when 50-foot tsunami waves struck the city in 2011.
If cities work to create master plans that combine cutting-edge updates and enhancements to infrastructure along with public education about the dangers of floods, evacuation protocol, and strengthen technology and communication systems that serve before, during, and after an event, that seems to be the most well-balanced protection against the unknown storms of the future.
As the devastating impacts of flooding — previously unprecedented and now part of the “new normal” in this era of global warming — continue to ravage cities around the world, it is essential for community leaders to champion comprehensive plans which include infrastructure updates and enhancements, public education about the dangers of floods, robust evacuation protocols, and most importantly, enhanced communication and technology systems. Thoughtful and well-balanced protection strategies can reduce the impacts of flooding before, during, and after the event.
