CDZ Asphalt and Concrete cause floods.

[william the wie]

Asphalt and concrete slow down water soaking into the soil. The Northeast and the industrial Midwest have been experiencing much worse in the way of flooding at a compounding rate for several decades. What reduces flooding are swamps, marshes and other annoying wetlands. Judging from "Super Storm" Sandy the Northeast in particular has been busy paving over wetlands at an insane rate. If even a tropical wave hits anywhere north of the Potomac the results will probably be catastrophic with the possible exceptions of areas with a lot of commercial cranberry bogs, which act like swamps. The tropical storm season really revs up in Sept. What political and economic consequences do you see coming?

 

[fncceo]

 

[Hiryuu]

Area devoted to pavement in America is around 16 million hectares (61 million square miles). The annual wheat crop in the United States is around 21 million hectares (we have more total area in wheat fields than paved roads in America). The paved roads would take up an area around the size of Maine.

 

[longknife]

Area devoted to pavement in America is around 16 million hectares (61 million square miles). The annual wheat crop in the United States is around 21 million hectares (we have more total area in wheat fields than paved roads in America). The paved roads would take up an area around the size of Maine.

Too many paved roads are in places where water would overwise gather to soak into the ground. So, it's not a matter of how much but where they are.

 

[jwoodie]

I don't think roads are the problem. It is the total area covered by buildings, parking lots and other non-percolating improvements. These also create heat islands and their own micro-climates.

 

[william the wie]

Area devoted to pavement in America is around 16 million hectares (61 million square miles). The annual wheat crop in the United States is around 21 million hectares (we have more total area in wheat fields than paved roads in America). The paved roads would take up an area around the size of Maine.

Too many paved roads are in places where water would overwise gather to soak into the ground. So, it's not a matter of how much but where they are.

There's also the problems of levees, canals, dams and aqueducts. Murphy's law is always forgotten when those things get built.

 

[Hiryuu]

There's also the problems of levees, canals, dams and aqueducts. Murphy's law is always forgotten when those things get built.

... And with Interstates when the US Department of Transportation doesn't put in the required drainage the plans called for, and essentially builds a 50 mile long 5' dam on the edge of the Atchafalaya River Basin that floods a quarter of the State.

 

[william the wie]

I don't think roads are the problem. It is the total area covered by buildings, parking lots and other non-percolating improvements. These also create heat islands and their own micro-climates.

While true, this is really ignored because of the AGW crap. I also suspect that if you mine the data non-percolating cycles will pop out at you.

The towers of death and the hurricane magnets that caused the two X marks the spot of two hurricanes hitting the same place in the same season can sometimes counter the heat sinks by creating permanent low pressure that also cause flooding.

 

[2aguy]

And this is where capitalism steps in....and finds a fix for the flooding....

 

[william the wie]

And this is where capitalism steps in....and finds a fix for the flooding....

not really. Where's the profit in curing the damage caused by taxoholic states?

In FL low resident taxes are the result of tourist taxes. floods due to multiple hurricanes hitting the same place in the same hurricane season every so often is a cost of getting really low taxes and better services than we pay for. In the northeast federal disaster relief picks up much of the tab and as long as the states have the money for matching funds it is profitable to have floods.

 

[Hiryuu]

not really. Where's the profit in curing the damage caused by taxoholic states?

Yeah, that's what happens when the government spends more money, hires more workers to stand around so the numbers look good for the politicians bringing jobs, cuts necessities to reduce costs, and still goes 21 million over budget, because no one is really paying for any of it anyway.

 

[harmonica]

Area devoted to pavement in America is around 16 million hectares (61 million square miles). The annual wheat crop in the United States is around 21 million hectares (we have more total area in wheat fields than paved roads in America). The paved roads would take up an area around the size of Maine.

Too many paved roads are in places where water would overwise gather to soak into the ground. So, it's not a matter of how much but where they are.

There's also the problems of levees, canals, dams and aqueducts. Murphy's law is always forgotten when those things get built.

they channel the water instead of allowing it to disperse

 

[harmonica]

what do you suggest we do?

 

[Hiryuu]

what do you suggest we do?

We could always make 100's of thousands more homeowners buy flood insurance, to cover costs when the government screws up and floods their homes. It seems to be the solution the government came up with, and what they were willing to do to address the problem.

 

[harmonica]

what do you suggest we do?

We could always make 100's of thousands more homeowners buy flood insurance, to cover costs when the government screws up and floods their homes. I seems to be the solution the government came up with, and what they were willing to do to address the problem.

the government??
please explain how it's the government's fault

 

[Hiryuu]

the government??
please explain how it's the government's fault

They built an Interstate (US Department of Transportation). They didn't put in the drainage the plans called for (it wasn't a mistake in planning). They built it along the edge of a swamp (swamps have water in them already, and the swamp they built it next to was drainage for a good portion of the State). So the Interstate then becomes a very long 5' high dam on the edge of a swamp, that backs up 5' of water for 930 square miles, and subsequently everything else that feeds into that 930 square miles.

It's not the rain's fault, not global warming's fault, not the homeowner's fault. It's the fault of the people in the government who made a stupid mistake (not that you should really expect anything different from them).

 

[william the wie]

the government??
please explain how it's the government's fault

They built an Interstate (US Department of Transportation). They didn't put in the drainage the plans called for (it wasn't a mistake in planning). They built it along the edge of a swamp (swamps have water in them already, and the swamp they built it next to was drainage for a good portion of the State). So the Interstate them becomes a very long 5' high dam on the edge of a swamp, that backs up 5' of water for 930 square miles, and subsequently everything else that feeds into that 930 square miles.

It's not the rain's fault, not global warming's fault, not the homeowner's fault. It's the fault of the people in the government who made a stupid mistake (not that you should really expect anything different from them).

You missed one trick you didn't point out the payback from federal, state and local patronage deals

 

[harmonica]

the government??
please explain how it's the government's fault

They built an Interstate (US Department of Transportation). They didn't put in the drainage the plans called for (it wasn't a mistake in planning). They built it along the edge of a swamp (swamps have water in them already, and the swamp they built it next to was drainage for a good portion of the State). So the Interstate them becomes a very long 5' high dam on the edge of a swamp, that backs up 5' of water for 930 square miles, and subsequently everything else that feeds into that 930 square miles.

It's not the rain's fault, not global warming's fault, not the homeowner's fault. It's the fault of the people in the government who made a stupid mistake (not that you should really expect anything different from them).

you don't want any interstate highways?
wrong drainage?
can you prove this?
the interstates/etc are good for the majority
the people voted for that government, so it's the people's vault
most people want the interstates/etc
tough luck on those [ stupid enough ] that build in flood areas

 

[Hiryuu]

You missed one trick you didn't point out the payback from federal, state and local patronage deals

I also left out the fact that you cannot pass out speeding tickets on the 18 mile bridge that crosses the river basin on Interstate 10 (the other place it crosses).

 

[Hiryuu]

the government??
you don't want any interstate highways?
wrong drainage?
can you prove this?
the interstates/etc are good for the majority
the people voted for that government, so it's the people's vault
most people want the interstates/etc
tough luck on those [ stupid enough ] that build in flood areas

If you think the government not following the plans they came up with is a good idea and not a stupid mistake, then there isn't much I could convince you of. If you build a house that isn't in a flood area, until the stupid government builds a dam around your house making it a flood zone, that is tough luck, because the government will never take responsibility for their mistakes.

(edit)
Sorry Will, it's kind of off topic, but I'm not cussing.