flooding

Climate Change Is Threatening Aging U.S. Dams

Climate Change Is Threatening Aging U.S. Dams

There are more than 90,000 dams in the United States. Many of those dams are at risk of failure. “Most of them were built more than 50 years ago. Usually, the design life of a dam is between 50 and 60 years, so a lot of our dams are already past their design age,” says […]

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    Venice Floods After New Barrier Fails to Activate

    Venice Floods After New Barrier Fails to Activate

    Flood waters swamped Venice’s iconic Saint Mark’s Square on Tuesday, despite the implementation of a barrier system that was supposed to protect the city from the flooding events that are getting more frequent because of the climate crisis. The water level rose to a high of 4.5 feet above sea level in the afternoon, AFP […]

    Kenya’s Rift Valley Lakes Have Flooded Properties and Displaced Communities

    Kenya’s Rift Valley Lakes Have Flooded Properties and Displaced Communities

    By Wesley Langat Over the years, the Rift Valley lakes in Eastern Africa have been vital in supporting livelihoods of local communities who depend on fishing, farming and livestock keeping. Apart from being a UNESCO world heritage site, the lakes are also a major tourist attraction destination with rich flora and fauna. But recent rising […]

    Affordable Housing Flood Risk Is Expected to Triple by 2050

    Affordable Housing Flood Risk Is Expected to Triple by 2050

    The threat to affordable housing from flooding driven by climate change will likely triple in the next 30 years, new research shows. The study, from Climate Central and the National Housing Trust and published in Environmental Research Letters, examined risk posed not just by extreme events like hurricanes, but also at the increasingly common threat […]

    Beavers Build First Dam in England’s Somerset in More Than 400 Years

    Beavers Build First Dam in England’s Somerset in More Than 400 Years

    England’s Somerset county can now boast its first beaver dam in more than 400 years. The dam is the work of Eurasion beavers who were reintroduced to the National Trust‘s Holnicote Estate in Exmoor National Park at the start of 2020, The Independent reported Monday. The beavers began to build the small structure in October, […]

    Cyclone Gati Threatens Somalia With Two Years of Rain in Two Days

    Cyclone Gati Threatens Somalia With Two Years of Rain in Two Days

    Cyclone Gati made landfall in Somalia Sunday as the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane, the first time that a hurricane-strength storm has made landfall in the East African country, NPR reported. Furthermore, at one point before making landfall, Gati strengthened to sustained winds of 115 miles per hour, the equivalent of a Category 3 […]

    Hurricane Iota Breaks Records as It Slams Nicaragua

    Hurricane Iota Breaks Records as It Slams Nicaragua

    Hurricane Iota made landfall along the coast of northeastern Nicaragua at 10:40 p.m. Monday night as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm. The landfall location was just 15 miles away from where the devastating Hurricane Eta made landfall 13 days earlier, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). It was also the most powerful storm […]

    Can We Protect Iconic Landmarks Against a Changing Climate?

    Can We Protect Iconic Landmarks Against a Changing Climate?

    By Erin Seekamp With global travel curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are finding comfort in planning future trips. But imagine that you finally arrive in Venice and the “floating city” is flooded. Would you stay anyway, walking through St. Mark’s Square on makeshift catwalks or elevated wooden passages – even if you couldn’t […]