Locals
demand action as extreme weather ravages Argentina's cities
Extreme
weather is ravaging Argentina's urban centers. Locals want to know
how the government is preparing to protect them against flash floods,
extreme heat and drought.
27
February, 2014
At
about 4:30 in the morning on April 2, 2013, Federico Brusau woke to
the sound of a neighbor ringing his doorbell again and again. The
water level in the street was rising quickly, and people were
preparing for the worst.
Brusau
rushed to shut the floodgates on his home and save his electronics.
Then he hurried to his rooftop terrace to unclog its
already-overflowing drains. By the time he got back downstairs, it
was too late to do anything more.
“Everything
was already covered with water,” he remembers. “It had come in
over the floodgates and then through the heating vents. In less than
five minutes, everything was flooded.”
The
water level in the street had rapidly risen to 1.3 meters (51 inches)
and spilled over Brusau's meter-high floodgates. Brusau had no choice
but to retreat to his second-floor bedroom and waited for the rain to
stop.
Extreme
weather
Brusau,
a 27-year-old who lives in the upper-middle-class neighborhood of
Saavedra - one of the lowest-lying points in the city of Buenos Aires
- was just one of the many people affected by last April's floods in
Buenos Aires and La Plata.
The
floods caused at least 50 deaths and
destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. Both cities, like many
in Latin America, are built on flood plains. As global warming
increases and extreme weather events become more common, devastating
floods are likely to carry away more lives and property unless
governments develop adequate infrastructure and emergency responses.
Extreme
weather events are becoming commonplace in places like Buenos Aires
That
evening, in the neighboring city of La Plata, 300 millimeters of rain
fell.
Soledad
Escobar, a La Plata resident, remembers stepping out of her home the
morning after the torrential downpour.
“It
was as if we'd been through a war,” she recalls. “The first thing
I did was go to see a friend of mine who lived five blocks away who
had water up to her neck. In that same block there was a woman who
died, just meters from where my friend lives. She drowned in her
house.”
What's
to be done
As
global warming increases, experts say not only Argentine cities, but
cities across Latin America can expect both more droughts - like the
one Argentina is experiencing now - and more storms, like the heavy
rain that caused last year's deaths and devastation.
“Climate
change has been underestimated,” says Antonio Elio Brailovsky, a
local environment expert. “We're going to have more and more
extreme events all the time.”
If
local governments built infrastructure capable of handling normal
storms, the effects of record-breaking rainfall wouldn't be so
tragic, says Claudio Velazco, a hydraulic engineer and an expert on
La Plata's drainage system. But, in dry years like this one, it's
hard to make long-term investments to prepare for future storms.
The
infrastructure that's needed is extensive. Environment expert
Brailovsky says cities need to construct new drains in lower areas
and, in higher areas, dams to hold back the water until the rain
subsides.
Velazco,
the engineer, says the money the local, provincial, and national
governments spent on subsidies for those who lost their houses or
possessions in last April's storms would have covered the cost of
necessary public works projects. The government offers such subsidies
because very few people have home insurance in Argentina.
Fortunately,
some palliative measures wouldn't require much of a budget, adds
Brailovsky, the environment expert. He says zoning laws should be
changed so that there aren't underground parking garages or power
boxes in areas susceptible to flooding.
Many homes are without insurance in Argentina
Making
up for lost time
Plans
to get Buenos Aires ready for the next storm are in the works. But
the problem is, since 1940, city governments have neglected to build
infrastructure to keep up with the growing population, says the
city's Director of Infrastructure, Daniel Capdevila.
So,
now, the city is doing its best to make up for lost time. In 2005, it
hired a consultant to complete a “Hydraulic Master Plan.”
“The
first thing we did was improve the Maldonado Canal, which is the
watershed where one third of the population [about one million
people] lives,” says Capdevila.
Next
on the city's list is the Vega Canal, which drains the areas flooded
in 2013. But, due to disagreements between the local and national
governments, the city of Buenos Aires never got the loans it needed
to finance the projects.
“The
World Bank was pleased with the loan they gave us for the Maldonado,
and wanted to give us money for the Vega,” says Capdevila. “But
we need to work with the national government so that it backs the
loan.”
Frustrated
residents
Those
affected by last year's floods say it's just a matter of political
will.
In
Buenos Aires, a group of residents from Federico Brusau's
neighborhood, Saavedra, is demanding the city implement a plan to
notify residents when a dangerous storm is coming and a way to send
emergency vehicles to vulnerable sites when floods strike. And, if
that doesn't happen soon, they plan to take their case to court.
Soledad
Escobar, in La Plata, wants to see her taxes coming back to her in
the form of infrastructure improvements and new public works projects
- even in dry years, like this one.
“We
want the government to take the problem seriously, to solve it, to
listen to engineers…, to come to an agreement, to put together a
task force, and to build the necessary infrastructure regardless of
how much it costs,” she says.
After
all, she asks, “What is the price of human life?”
So much
for the rainforest there. Epic droughts in 2005 and 2010 turned them
into a carbon source instead of a massive carbon sink, contributing
to rapid jumps is atmospheric carbon concentration rise
---Paul
Beckwith
Is
Brazil's epic drought a taste of the future?
Extreme
weather is ravaging Argentina's urban centers. Locals want to know
how the government is preparing to protect them against flash floods,
extreme heat and drought
25
February, 2014
With more
than 140 cities implementing water rationing, analysts warning of
collapsing soy and coffee exports, and reservoirs and rivers running
precipitously low, talk about the World Cup in some parts of Brazil
has been sidelined by concerns about an epic drought affecting the
country's agricultural heartland.
With its
rise as an agricultural superpower over the past 20 years, Brazil is
today the world's largest exporter of coffee, sugar, oranges, soy,
and cattle. That means the drought will take a bite out of the
country's already flagging economic growth. But the worst may be yet
to come if climate projections prove accurate: forecasts are for
hotter and drier conditions going forward.
"The
regions where we plant coffee today, especially the ones on lower
elevations, will be getting hotter," Hilton Silveira Pinto of
EMBRAPA, Brazil's government agency for agriculture, told NPR. "And
many of the coffee plantations in these areas will probably have to
be abandoned."
"By
2020, we will lose 20 to 22 percent of our soybean crop. It will also
affect corn, cassava, many of our Brazilian crops."
Research
suggests the forecasts could become even more dire if the Amazon
rainforest — which plays a critical role in local and regional
rainforest — tips toward drier conditions. Several studies predict
that the combination of forest loss and climate change could conspire
to tip large areas in the southern Amazon from rainforest toward
savanna habitat, reducing rainfall. Already the region has
experienced two of the most severe droughts on record — in 2005 and
2010.
"If
droughts continue to occur at 5–10-year frequency, or increase in
frequency, large areas of Amazonian forest canopy likely will be
exposed to the persistent effect of droughts and the slow recovery of
forest canopy structure and function," wrote
researchers in a paper published
in Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences in
December 2012. "In particular, areas of south and western
Amazonia have been shown to be affected severely by increasing
rainfall variability in the past decade, suggesting that this region
may be witnessing the first signs of potential large-scale
degradation of Amazonian rainforest from climate change."
Further
east, farmers and city residents are already feeling the pain. Some 6
million people in 11 states have been asked to ration water and
temperatures in January in Sao Paulo were the hottest ever
recorded.
Big
river boat trapped on a sand bank east of Barreirinha, during one of
the worst droughts ever recorded in the Amazon. October, 2005. ©
Greenpeace / Daniel Beltra
No
doubt they'll steal water from their neghbours.
Israel
Facing Extreme Drought, Experts Concerned
Experts
worry over driest year since 1927, as Kinneret reportedly loses four
centimeters in February.
By
Tova Dvorin
24
February, 2014
Israel
is facing the driest winter since 1927, Ma'ariv reports Monday,
leaving experts concerned.
The
Kinneret (Sea of Galilee)'s water level has dropped by four
centimeters since the rainy season began, compared to a 1.97 meter
rise over the same five-month period in 2013.
Israel
has seen slight rain this month, but apparently it has not been
making enough of an impact to change the drought situation. Israel's
Water Authority stated Monday that the water level in the Kinneret
rose by only two centimeters from the beginning of the February,
compared to February 2013, which saw a 37 centimeter increase. The
rise appears to be an accumulation of previous rainfall though, since
in February 2013 no rain fell in Israel at all.
Officials
stated that extra precautions are being made in the event that the
drought continues.
"We
have already set up extra desalination facilities, and water
purifying centers, as well as [encouraged] proper water use and
conservation," Water Authority spokesman Uri Shor stated. "This
preparation allows us to provide enough water for regular use, even
when Israel faces a dry spell."
Farmers
are facing a real problem. Rather than just rain, they need extra
water to irrigate fields and orchards, which comes at the expense of
their annual water allotments. While there may be enough in their
quotas to water their fields now, farmers potentially face the
possibility of having no water at all for the arid summer months.
The
Israeli Farmers' Federation (IFF) has already turned to the
government for help dealing with the crisis.
"Farmers
all over the country are forced to irrigate their fields and
orchards, and if the situation continues like this, they might suffer
heavy expenses," IFF spokesman Avshalom Vilan explained. "This
may lead to a serious crisis for farmers that will also affect crops
and produce."
"We
need to find a quick and immediate solution with the help of the
Israeli government, to prevent heavy damage which is bound to affect
the spring and summer harvest," he added.
Those
comments echoed similar concerns voiced earlier this month by the
Israeli Agricultural Federation. A spokesman for the Federation
called on he government to urgently supplement inadequate water
resources by increasing desalinization efforts.
The
drought will also affect the tourism ministry, as the lush landscapes
in the Galilee and the Golan Heights drive more customers to bed and
breakfasts and other vacation spots.
Even
Mount Hermon was affected.
"I
think this is the first year the snow did not attract the same
quantity of tourists as usual," Sharon Lifschitz, CEO of tour
company Eretz HaGalil noted. "Everyone went to Jerusalem, or
Samaria, or the North during the storm."
"What
we see going on here is something very rare," Zahi Waxma,
forecaster for Meteo-tech, explained. "Months have passed since
the storm and the amount of rain that fell in the north stands at
less than 10 mm per month. We are at the peak of the rainy season,
which means we should see about 100-200 mm of rainfall while, in
practice, there are places seeing only 5 mm."
Early
Wildfire Season in New Mexico Starts as U.S. Considers New Funding
Sources to Fight Extreme Wildfires
Extreme
weather is ravaging Argentina's urban centers. Locals want to know
how the government is preparing to protect them against flash floods,
extreme heat and drought.
25
February, 2014
I
experienced very dry conditions in the mountains of northern New
Mexico a few weeks back. I spoke with someone who travels to Taos
nearly every winter and this was the least snow he could remember.
The fire risk sign said “low” in the surrounding forests, but if
more snow did not come soon I suspected those signs would start
nudging to the yellow and red colors that warn of fire risk.
During
the largest wildfire season between 2003 and 2013 (in terms of total
New Mexico acres burned), the Las Conchas Fire erupted. Photo taken
June 29, 2011, by Brenda Ekwurzel.
Yesterday,
President Obama met with governors of western states to discuss
drought and wildfires. His annual budget request to Congress includes
a proposed shift in funding for extreme wildfires.
Bandelier
National Monument visitor center protects itself from post-fire
flooding with sand bags. Photo taken Jan 27, 2014 by Brenda Ekwurzel
Road
sign damaged by floodwaters. Photo taken Jan 27, 2014 by Brenda
Ekwurzel
Huge
trees were piled up against other trees in the Frijoles Canyon and
grey sediment choked the streambed in many parts.
I
met residents who live downstream at Laguna Pueblo who said they
heard the roar of boulders under the floodwaters hurling down the
canyon in September 2013. The area affected by the flood looked
perilously close to the village of Tyuonyi
Pueblo on
the valley floor of Frijoles Canyon– a cherished national heritage
site that the National Park Service is charged with protecting.
Frijoles
Canyon filled with trees, boulders, and grey sediment after
flooding. Note how close the flood debris is to the Tyuonyi Pueblo
structures. Photo taken Jan 27, 2014 by Brenda Ekwurzel.
Not
only does the nation face the rising costs of fighting wildfires when
they burn, the costs of extreme flooding in the months and years
following such a large fire is often a surprise to those living
downstream.
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