Northern Light
Superstar
As with so many issues globally, political response seems surprisingly, and unacceptably slow.
Here, the most immediate issue is that forecasters foresaw something like this (as in, they literally forecast flood warnings a few days ago), and it seems evacuation orders were issued too sparingly and too late.
Europe is too built up to easily adopt Ontario's approach to removing buildings from the regulatory floodplain, as much of Europe's centuries old buildings are river/lake/oceanside.
Some action can be taken on this file though. Whether that is selective building removal, building berms at riversides, or creating new floodplains in some of the agricultural/natural areas that may be available.
It also means looking at options like prohibiting ground-floor or basement living in the most vulnerable remaining properties, and making sure they are study enough to withstand at least moderate flooding.
That said, the flooding here is exceptional, not merely in volume, but in flow, that kind of power is difficult to mitigate; and that makes the importance of timely evacuations critical.
Here, the most immediate issue is that forecasters foresaw something like this (as in, they literally forecast flood warnings a few days ago), and it seems evacuation orders were issued too sparingly and too late.
Europe is too built up to easily adopt Ontario's approach to removing buildings from the regulatory floodplain, as much of Europe's centuries old buildings are river/lake/oceanside.
Some action can be taken on this file though. Whether that is selective building removal, building berms at riversides, or creating new floodplains in some of the agricultural/natural areas that may be available.
It also means looking at options like prohibiting ground-floor or basement living in the most vulnerable remaining properties, and making sure they are study enough to withstand at least moderate flooding.
That said, the flooding here is exceptional, not merely in volume, but in flow, that kind of power is difficult to mitigate; and that makes the importance of timely evacuations critical.
