What is a hurricane?
- a severe storm characterized by a rotating cloud system, thunderstorms, high winds, heavy rainfall
- forms over warm water
- hurricanes and tropical cyclones are the same type of storm
What are the two hurricane imacts?
- wind dmg
- flooding (rainfall, storm surge)
How is climate change making hurricanes more intense?
higher air and water temps
- it gives storms more energy -> higher wind speeds
- provides more moisture that falls as rain
Increase Storm intensity
- worsens storm surge flooding
What happened during Houston and Hurricane Harvey?
- dropped 50 inches of rain
- over 80 ppl killed in Texas
- est. 136,000 building flooded in and around Houston
- most ppl did not have flood insurance
What are the physical factors that caused flooding in Houston?
- location and topography (flat terrain, close to gulf of Mexico)
- climate change
- higher temps increase intensity of storms
- sea level rise increases impact of storm surges
What was the urban design that caused flooding in Houston?
- city expansion/ urban sprawl
- low-lying areas prone to flooding
- lots of paved surfaces; relatively few parks
- ‘hard’ barriers to block water (dams, flood walls) rather than ‘soft’ ones (vegetation)
What was the policy decisions of the Houston flooding?
emphasis on recovery, not prevention
What happened 5 years later after the Houston Hurricane?
- 1/5 residents surveyed hadn’t fully recovered yet
- attitudes had changed: over 90% now support restricting building in wetlands and floodplains, and requiring flood-prone buildings to be elevated
- these policies focused on preventing damage from flooding, not high winds
What was Hurricane Beryl?
- Landed in Texas as a Category 1 storm
- almost 3M ppl lost power due to grid dmg
- a week later 100k still disconnected
- very hot, humid weather meant that many lacked cooling when they needed it
What has Houston learned and not learned?
city proposed policies to prevent future flood dmg but:
- didn’t act to prevent wind dmg
- some proposals were controversial (building has expanded on floodplains and wetlands)
- population in high-risk areas continues to grow
What were the lessons from Staten Island, NY?
- many homes were built on floodplains and filled wetlands
(high risk of exposure to flooding) - massive dmg from hurricane Sandy
- managed retreat - a planned relocation to move ppl out of flood zones
- the state offered to buy homes in high-risk areas at pre-storm value
- those who stayed faced new rules on rebuilding
-communities were highly involved
What did they do with the homes from Staten Island, NY?
- demolished them to create wetlands (coastal buffer zones)
- at least 299 homes bought; 1996 destroyed
- wetland seeds were spread in their place
- wildlife increased in the area
How was houstons approach vs Staten island approach?
Houston’s approach: more reactive
Staten Island’s approach: more preventative
What was c40 mayor’s agenda for a green and just recovery?
- COVID caused challenges to health and other issues
Widened Inequalities
- lost jobs, income
- health risks
- constrained mobility
- digital access
- race, class, gender
What was c40 mayors’ agenda principles?
recovery must:
- not return to “business as usual”
- be guided by public health advice
- include excellent public services
- address equity issues
- improve resilience
- explore new (green) technologies and types of jobs
- be healthy, equitable and sustainable
- be supported by national, international organizations
What were the themes of mayors’ agenda?
- climate justice is a central issue
- health, equity, sustainability are mutually supporting and build resilience to multiple future threats
- COVID19 strategies that aimed to “build back” the same as before would be disastrous
- COVID provided and opportunity to choose a diff path
