Dams, Roads, Bridges All Being Built w/o Reference To Rapid Rise In Extreme Weather, Esp. Rainfall
When then-Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) announced plans in 2017 for a sprawling Foxconn electronics plant, he touted the 13,000 promised jobs and $10 billion investment spread across 1,000 acres, much of it farmland. Downstream across the border in Lake County, Ill., officials focused on a more sinister byproduct: water.
Earlier that summer, more than seven inches of rain drenched the county, setting off flash flooding. Six days later, swollen rivers flowing south from Wisconsin crested at record heights. Families evacuated. More than 3,000 structures flooded. Damage exceeded $12 million.
Where Wisconsin saw jobs and tax revenue, Illinois saw a rising threat. “We realized there were significant storm-water concerns,” said Kurt Woolford, the interim executive director of the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission. “Water doesn’t follow political boundaries, it doesn’t follow state boundaries.” But rainfall estimates used to design storm-water systems do. As they analyzed whether the plans for Foxconn could handle extreme rain, officials in each state reached different conclusions. In Illinois, they relied on a 2020 state study that predicted as much as 8.57 inches of rain would fall, causing floods. But Wisconsin officials disagreed, citing a 2013 study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that forecast just 5.84 inches.
The conflict highlights the lack of a comprehensive, national precipitation database as climate change brings more frequent “rain bombs” that can dump up to seven inches of water in hours. Design standards for roads, storm-water systems, dams and construction regulations — even whether a home is in a flood plain and requires flood insurance — are based on precipitation estimates. In many states, those standards no longer accurately portray the risk to infrastructure intended to last decades. “It is foundational to so many decisions that we make,” said Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of Floodplain Managers. “It’s a risk problem that has ripple effects everywhere.”
EDIT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/04/09/climate-change-rainfall/
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