How Government Decisions Left Tennessee Exposed to Deadly Flooding
By Chris Flavelle, 8/26/21, NY Times

The floods that killed at least 20 people in Tennessee
last weekend arrived with shocking speed and force —
seemingly a case study of the difficulties of protecting
people from explosive rainstorms as climate change gets worse.

A closer look at what happened in the days, years & even
decades before the storm reveals that a series of govt
decisions — where & how to build, when to update flood maps,
whether to join the federal flood insurance program & how
to warn of dangerous floods — left residents more exposed
to flooding than they had to be.

Record rainfall, at times exceeding 3 in/hr, swelled rivers
& creeks in Middle Tennessee on Saturday, destroying homes,
cutting off power & cellphone service & washing away bridges.
Among the dead are 7-month old twins, a 15-year-old girl &
an Army vet who died after helping his wife & daughter escape.

It’s impossible to say whether any single action could have
prevented those deaths, especially given the ferocity of
the flooding. But interviews with climate & disaster experts
& a review of state & federal data show how govts have been
slow to adapt to growing threats & failed to take steps that,
together, could have lessened the damage.

“These extreme weather events will become more intense &
more frequent,” said Hiba Baroud, a professor of civil &
environmental engineering at Vanderbilt U. in Nashville who
specializes in resilience. “We need to be more proactive,
& think about ways to prevent or at least mitigate the
impact of these events.”
[ . . . ] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/26/climate/tennessee-flood-damage-impact.html

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