urbanSTL

Maybe our climate change advantage isn't as great as we think. Will we insist on less parking, less spreading out, less VMT, less pavement, less exclusionary zoning?

Stl PR - Extreme heat is coming. What is St. Louis doing about 'the silent killer' of climate change?


https://news.stlpublicradio.org/health- ... ate-change

RFT - Extreme Heat Is Coming for St. Louis. Are We Doing Enough to Prepare?


https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/ex ... e-40302362

^I would say we still have a climate change advantage over sunbelt cities we are currently losing out to like Austin, Nashville, Charlotte. 

It's not like those cities won't be getting even hotter than STL. 

Baltimore Jack wrote: ↑

Jun 24, 2023

^I would say we still have a climate change advantage over sunbelt cities we are currently losing out to like Austin, Nashville, Charlotte. 

It's not like those cities won't be getting even hotter than STL. 

Also, most studies quoted use a moderate or worst case scenario for global warming that are pretty unlikely given the momentum and implementation of clean energy and emerging technologies.

Boy it sure seems like the effects are coming bigger and quicker than expected and that the momentum and implementation of clean energy is slower than necessary.

^ unfortunately the floodplains are already built on in urban areas.   So a systematic approach to what Brentwood has done by expanding the Deer Creek greenway on a much larger or regional scale would go a long way.   For St. Louis City & County, at a minimum that means a complete rethink on Des Peres Creek.    The plus side for the region, especially for St. Louis City & County , is that fact the region is land rich and cheap as far as an urban environment goes.   Time to buy up properties, relocate homes & business so you could at least secure the floodplain back into public domain and stop the repetitive losses and damages.    

STLEnginerd wrote: ↑

Jun 28, 2023

Don't build in floodplains.  There solved it.

This is why I facepalm as it relates to Chesterfield Valley. One solution would be to revamp flood insurance programs to make it prohibitively expensive for anyone to develop in one because of the insurance risk for most types of development. 

Thinking maybe going forward to just buy out flood damaged properties as policy. Of course there would be some exceptions for say agricultural use, parks and recreation structures, and historic structures for example.

STLEnginerd wrote: ↑

Jun 29, 2023

Point is while I am 100% a believer in the catastrophic impacts of climate change I think FAR more of the increase in flood damages are caused by poor development standards.  Our rivers and streams in their natural state can accommodate vastly more water than climate change will add to the system in the next 500 years.  If we build wisely the impacts will be minimal.

Of course we won't build wisely, but its within our power.

For the most part I agree with you; the local hydrologic system is pretty robust and can handle an awful lot of capacity in part because it handled more in the melt from the last ice age. Staying out of the enormous floodplain will avoid a lot of problems. But the sorts of storms that dump epic rain in a small area in a short time are becoming more frequent. The overall amount of water may not overwhelm the system, but the peak flows in small local spots seems to be getting worse. And urban areas have some unique and real complexities in handing water flows that you just don't get in a natural environment. Maybe in terms of landform they're more like a rocky desert: lots of hard surfaces that shed a lot of water quickly. Historically I feel like we got more steady rain and less downpours. Flooding may be a problem we can handle, but flash flooding is a different story. The sewer system is old and gummed up in a lot of places. Things that don't look like floodplains actually are.

Things that have had homes on them for a hundred years or more. And the infrastructure of our houses is more fragile now. We've got more junk in our basements. More electronics, more appliances, more . . . junk, really. So when your basement floods because the local storm sewer backed up, which is happening more, it's more of a hassle than it used to be. More than a hassle, even, when you have stuff you can't just hose down absorbing sewage. (And you didn't expect it because flash floods were never a problem before.) We can handle this, but it's going to take some work. We'll have to learn how to adapt our houses. We'll have to fix our sewers. (Obviously.) And heck, it would help to greenscape a bit more with more absorbent surfaces. Get rid of surface parking. That kind of stuff. It's nothing too surprising, but we need to get with the program and get it done.

Glad to see the state helping instead of ignoring or exacerbating the situation. It'd be great if they'd help with buyout efforts and forbid development in some floodplains.

Missouri House votes to require a permit to export water. ‘The water wars are coming.’


https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/gov ... de602a4c82