Devastating floods: Planet taking revenge, are you prepared?
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Your Planet Needs You
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Are Indians prepared for another war alongwith cross border terrorism?
Floodwaters cause misery, increase the death toll, force evacuation and cut essential services, disrupting human life. Today in different parts of the world, rivers prone to flooding are raging wrath and destruction.
Rivers are bursting with swelling water levels as Britain experiences the worst floods in 60 years. In China, 'Once-in-a-century' rains and floods have displaced millions of people. Storms brought in heavy rain and floods plagued the Southern Plains since early June in Texas. Seasonal downpours have caused landslides and flash floods in Indonesia.
Where does all that rain come from? Some blame it on the El Nino effect, others on varying temperatures of different seasons, which lead to different weather patterns. Prolonged rain can produce a river flood as water from upstream tributaries gradually builds up.
A study by certain scientists indicates that Human-induced climate change through higher air temperatures and hotter seas is widely expected to lead to more droughts, wildfires and floods. Human activities that spur global warming have affected global rainfall patterns over the 20th Century. Countries such as Canada, Russia and northern Europe had become wetter, while areas including India and parts of Africa had become drier. No wonder that in the midst of floods in Britain, ironically in mainland Europe, the problem is not rain but heat, even as the death toll from a heat wave in Romania, Austria and Bulgaria has been rising.
Heart of England has been paralyzed...
Going against all predictions of a record breaking hot summer, torrential rains have plagued Britain over the past month. Extreme rain predicted for winter has hit the summer of 2007. Thousands are poised to evacuate their homes with the banks of the two largest rivers in Britain, the Severn and the Thames, threatening to burst. Many towns and villages are either submerged or cut off. Parking lots were submerged, trains suspended, buses canceled. Farmers saw there summer crops destroyed and there loses become catastrophic.
China's climes lash out...
One of the deadliest rainy seasons to strike China in years has claimed at least 425 lives while 110 are missing. It caused the evacuation of more than 1 million people living along the flooded Huaihe River. Since mid-June, more than 100 million Chinese have been affected by the rains and flooding. As the rains continue to beat down, concerns are mounting that displaced residents will have to cope with long-term food shortages due to destruction of farmland. Further, the defenses against the floods called dykes along the Huai River have become loose, threatening the homes of millions of people.
Some in China claim that Three Gorges Dam was to blame for the unusual weather because of its uncertain meteorological and ecological implications However Zhao Yunfa, a senior engineer with China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Corporation, strongly refuted the same in his statement to Xinhua. He said that 17 sluice gates have been opened to keep water level below the designed 144 meters and to ease the flood pressure on the mid-lower reaches.
The Three Gorges reservoir, the world's largest hydroelectric project, was built on China's longest river, the Yangtze, to prevent floods and generate electricity. However consider this, how much damage is likely to be caused if this dam were to burst?
The risks of urban flooding are immense, improved flood defenses and better drainage would have been useful in saving lives in these regions. Coastal defenses, flood defenses and of course drainage infrastructure should be put into place. A big task lies ahead for the people whose lives have come to a standstill because of the floods.
Rampant deforestation, melting glaciers, changing weather patterns and global warming is the human legacy to the planet. These floods should be enough of a wake up call to turn the tide for natures benefit. More should be done in terms of finding out about the long-term event risks associated with 'Climate Change.'At a personal level have you set up your monthly tree planting regime?
Image credit: [1], [2], [3]
