"On July 8, New Mexico's Rio Ruidoso unbound from its banks for the second year in a row and swelled to 20 times its typical knee-high depth. The cascade of water roared like a train, Kathy Papasan, a longtime resident on the river's edge, told me, and dark waves battered her porch. She and her husband had to flee uphill to a neighbor's house."
"The Ruidoso flood was one of many across America this summer-a more active flood season than those in the previous couple of years, Kelly Mahoney, a research meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told me. At least four people died when rain swamped the suburbs of Chattanooga, Tennessee, this month. In Wisconsin, Milwaukee flooded after days of rain, during which multiple rivers hit record levels."
"Mahoney told me that it was too soon to conclude if this season is abnormal or the product of climate change. Some years simply have more, or worse, floods. Climate change just makes the chance of a bad year higher. The quickly warming atmosphere holds more precipitation, which can unbuckle more often and in heavier bursts. Landscapes scarred by previous disasters-drought, wildfire-are at greater risk of flooding too."
New Mexico's Rio Ruidoso flooded on July 8 for the second consecutive year, swelling to 20 times its normal depth, battering homes and causing residents to flee; the event damaged 400 structures and destroyed 293, and killed three people. Similar deadly floods struck Chattanooga, Milwaukee, North Carolina (Tropical Storm Chantal), and Kerrville, Texas, where one-in-1,000-year rains produced massive fatalities. A warming atmosphere holds more moisture, increasing the likelihood of intense precipitation events, and landscapes weakened by drought and wildfire are more flood-prone. Concurrent federal moves to freeze NOAA's budget, reduce staffing, and halt programs weaken national flood preparedness.
Read at The Atlantic
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