Human development near rivers is exacerbating flooding
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029580
Ars Technica : Floods are worse now than they were decades ago because of human management. So say researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, who compared last year’s record-setting flood on the Meramec River with the previous record holder, which took place in 1982. Robert Criss and Mingming Luo predicted the amount of flooding that should have occurred in 2015 based on rainfall and found that the actual flooding exceeded their prediction. They attribute the rise to the increased number of levees and other structures that manipulate the river system. Had the 1982 storm occurred over the 2015 landscape, the researchers say, the flooding would have been much worse and caused more damage. Criss and Luo recommend avoiding new commercial and residential development in floodplain areas.
