The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Projects initiated after Hurricane Ike in 2008 to handle regional level flooding have floundered.
“There is no comprehensive regional plan that links the activities of Houston, Harris County and all the communities nears by,” said Gerry Galloway, a civil engineering professor at the University of Maryland who works in Texas.
“The culture in Texas is we do our own things,” he added.
– Wake-up call? –
Left unchecked, chaotic development will increase the risk of severe flooding “even if we did not have climate change” to deal with, Galloway said.
There is broad scientific consensus that rising global temperatures have led to more intense hurricanes like Harvey, as a result of greater energy within weather systems.
Many of the communities worst hit by flooding are also low-income areas where people can rarely afford flood insurance, Galloway said.
He believes the federal government, which is providing reconstruction funding, must play a larger role in imposing strict development standards.
“I am hoping that Harvey will be a wake up call for how the US in general handles development” in the face of such risks, said Scata — though he isn’t holding his breath.
Just two weeks ago, President Donald Trump rescinded Obama-era flood protections for federally funded buildings and infrastructure put in place following Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the New Jersey coast and left parts of New York city flooded in 2012.
According to these standards hospitals, retirement homes and other critical infrastructure must be rebuilt on land with low risk of flooding.
