Catastrophic flood That swept the northwest Europe A harsh warning was issued last week that as once-rare weather events become more common, strengthening dams, dams and drainage systems is as urgent as long-term prevention of climate change.
As the floods receded, officials were assessing the damage caused by the torrents that swept through western and southern Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, which destroyed buildings and bridges and killed more than 150 people.
The German Interior Minister Horst Sihofer, who visited the spa town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler on Monday, said that in addition to the millions of euros needed for emergency assistance, the reconstruction costs will reach billions of euros.
However, the cost of designing and building better infrastructure to mitigate such incidents can be many times higher.
Climate change has caused heavy rains, and scientists warn that floods have hit Western Europe
Following severe heat waves and wildfires in North America and Siberia, floods have made climate change a top priority on the political agenda.
The European Union this month introduced a set of ambitious measures to tackle climate change at the source, with a focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit the continued rise in global temperature.
It is also implementing a 750 billion euros coronavirus recovery plan, which is mainly used for projects to improve economic resilience and sustainability.
But the damage caused by last week’s floods clearly shows that the extreme weather events predicted by climate change scientists have now occurred and need to be addressed directly.
“We need to build new infrastructure-contain basins, dams, river overflow drainage areas-and strengthen sewage systems, dams and barriers,” said Lamia Mesa, professor of construction technology and construction physics at Siegen University Lee-Becker said.
“This is a difficult task. This is the engineer’s time.”
‘This really happened’
After a series of severe flooding events in the past 25 years, some affected countries have taken actions, such as lowering the floodplains to help them absorb more water.
At the same time, the speed and scale of the catastrophe caused by the abnormally heavy rain brought by the powerful low-pressure system shows how difficult it is to prepare for more frequent extreme weather.
Wim Thiery, a climate scientist at the Free University of Brussels, said: “As climate change continues and the intensity and frequency of extreme events continue to increase, the extent to which you can protect yourself is limited.”
It is of course necessary to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it will not have a substantial impact on the weather, let alone cool the planet.
“Clear Link”: Experts say that European floods indicate an urgent need to curb climate change
Long before that, countries will have to adjust or build infrastructure beyond water management, including agriculture, transportation, energy, and housing.
“Our cities have developed for centuries, and in some cases from the Roman period, the climatic conditions are very different from the climatic conditions we are entering,” Thierry said.
Even before last week’s floods turned streets and houses into piles of muddy rubble, the transportation and urban infrastructure that Germany is proud of has been deteriorating due to years of budget constraints.
In other vulnerable areas of Europe, such as northern Italy, destructive floods almost every year expose the fragility of dilapidated roads and bridges.
The coronavirus pandemic has made the government use less spare money to maintain infrastructure, let alone strengthen it.
But they may have no choice.
“I think we are now aware that these extreme events are indeed happening,” said Patrick Williams, professor of water engineering at the University of Leuven in Belgium.
“This is not just a prediction, it is indeed happening.”
(Additional reporting by Markus Wacket and Maria Sheahan; writing by James Mackenzie; editing by Kevin Liffey)
