Flooding in downtown Washington DC yesterday. Image: Alex Brandon/AP
Yesterday, nearly a month’s worth of rain fell in just one hour in the Washington D.C. metro area–making it one of the area’s top 10 wettest July days ever recorded. As the Washington Post reported, “The sheets of rain, with nowhere to run off, turned major roads into rivers while streams and creeks shot up 10 feet in less than an hour. The rushing water stranded scores of people in their vehicles, poured into businesses and the Metro system, submerged cars in parking lots, swamped basements and caused some roads to cave in, forming massive sinkholes.”
The Facts: According to the National Climate Assessment, human-induced warming increases heavy downpours, causes more extensive storm surges due to sea-level rise, and leads to more rapid spring snowmelt. If we continue to emit greenhouse gasses and rapidly warm our planet we should prepare for more extreme weather. What’s really scary is that flash floods are responsible for more flood-related deaths than any other type of flooding because people are often caught off guard and cannot escape to safety.
Why This Matters: The flash-flooding came just as President Trump was delivering a speech that touted his environmental record (and was met with an expected amount of pushback) but made absolutely no mention of climate change. A presidential administration that doesn’t acknowledge human-induced climate change simply cannot have a worthy environmental record as climate change is the greatest threat facing people and planet.
Make sure to watch Monica’s take on Trump’s speech below:
July 9, 2019 » climate change, extreme weather, flash flood, Trump, Washington DC
