Weather worries — Part 3
Floods and Fires
These days I am super sensitive to weather trends. Here in Canada, we are currently bracing for wildfire season to hit the western provinces, but they also have to be ready for massive flooding due to heavy and intense rain.
In British Columbia they have beautiful wooded areas which are subject to fires caused by lightning strikes and human error (careless smoking, campfires, etc.). Ironically, those same areas can be devastated by floods caused by heavy rain, which in turn causes rivers and streams to overfill and flood low-lying areas. And right now, in the heavily wooded areas of Labrador, Newfoundland, they are experiencing massive fires.
One would think that heavy rains would be a good thing to help slow down huge wildfires, but unfortunately, those heavy rains can cause huge damage to infrastructure, farms, communities, and wildlife.
There are many triggers for floods, here are a few:
1. Heavy rainfall resulting from tropical weather disturbances.
2. Deforestation.
3. Improper agricultural practices.
4. Inadequate design of drainage channels and structures.
5. Inadequate maintenance of drainage facilities, blockage by debris brought by flood waters.
6. Construction of settlements in flood plains.
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/mrgnc-mngmnt/ntnl-rsk-prfl/bckgrndr-flds-en.aspx#
It is quite unacceptable that 5 out of 6 of these causes are thanks to poor planning and poor management by humans, and thus preventable.
Number 2, deforestation, REALLY annoys me. In the endless quest for more money, large mining and agricultural companies come in and cut down huge swathes of trees either to provide roads to access mines or to increase farming surface for factory farms.
In cities, trees are given little consideration, cut down mercilessly to make way for huge, barren parking lots, and roads and highways. (Joni Mitchell had something to say about that. Joni Mitchell Big Yellow YouTube · willybeable)All of which have paved surfaces. Paved surfaces do not absorb water. If water is not absorbed, it runs off. Since in many places, little is done to create appropriate places for the water to drain, it pours unstoppably over the paved surfaces, over anything in its path, and causes flooding and damage.
In clear-cutting trees, these companies are removing natural flood barriers (living tree roots).
Flooding causes huge expense in North America, https://www.flooddefenders.org/problem, and in many other countries around the world.
Number 6, building on flood plains, is another thing that really irritates me.
Why would you think it is a good plan to build on an unstable area? Why would the people responsible for granting building permits in cities, grant permits to build in areas deemed to be unsafe?
What is wrong with people these days? Is it me, or are bureaucrats and politicians getting stupider?
In the mid-1950s, Ontario experienced a devastating weather event called Hurricane Hazel. In the aftermath, many areas were declared flood zones and were re-purposed as parklands with no building being allowed.
Hurricane HazelWikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Hurricane_Hazel
But earlier this year, the Ontario government (Ontario is the province where we live) proposed to open up sections of the Greenbelt to allow more homebuilding. They went so far as to allow certain builders to purchase some of these lands.
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/12/02/ottawa-disaster-compensation-housing-flood-areas/
The plan backfired after massive protests and a call for a police investigation of what ties there were between the Ontario government and the builder. The Provincial government eventually backed down on this badly thought out plan, once it saw that major trouble was on the horizon. But I think this nicely proves my point that bureaucrats and politicians are getting stupider/more dishonest.
What we saw here, with the provincial government trying to sell off environmentally sensitive land, is happening all over the world with different governments refusing to face reality.
