Hurricane Helene took the lives of more than 200 people, making it the deadliest hurricane to make landfall on the U.S. mainland since Katrina. The type of historic, extreme flooding that Helene caused is becoming more frequent.
What's happening?
Helene maintained an amazing amount of strength by the time it struck the southern Appalachians. The winds in Mount Mitchell State Park in western North Carolina reached 106 mph. The historic amount of rain the storm squeezed out was responsible for most of the damage. Busick, North Carolina, received over 30 inches of rain. The Swannanoa River at Biltmore Village in Asheville, North Carolina, crested at 26.1 feet, shattering the old record of 20.7 feet set in 1916.
Albert Kettner, associate director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) and director of the DFO Flood Observatory, has collected and analyzed data that reveals extreme floods are becoming more common.
"It's not the case that the world is getting wetter," Gabe Allen, senior communications specialist with INSTAAR, reported in Phys.org. "In fact, many places are becoming more arid. Rather, really big floods, which were previously rare, are happening more often."
Why is an increase in extreme floods important?
Dr. Kettner says it is difficult to separate all the factors involved, but the two basic causes of catastrophic flooding are the changing climate and changes people have made to Earth's landscape. Our overheating planet is changing the water cycle, speeding it up as our world warms, increasing the rate of evaporation worldwide. That increased evaporation is causing higher precipitation rates.
Warmer air can hold more water vapor, so more water is available to be harnessed in the atmosphere, which can produce more intense rainfall and extreme flooding events. On the other end of the spectrum, places that tend to be more arid and susceptible to drought are projected to become even drier.
What's being done about really big floods?
Dr. Kettner has created information maps for the United Nations World Food Program. This is part of his effort to encourage more collaboration with the DFO Flood Observatory and organizations that provide aid to those enduring the consequences of a warming climate.
Advances like AI-powered flooding forecast tools and quantum computing technology can help prepare for flooding events.
Cutting carbon pollution from dirty energy sources and transitioning to renewable options is crucial. Some steps we can take to modernize our homes, such as unplugging "energy vampires," installing solar panels, and upgrading to a tankless water heater, can help.
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