Friday, June 13, 2008

Stunning pictures of Iowa flooding

Iowa Kossack posts some truly shocking pictures of the flooding in Iowa.

On the Kos front page right now, another article on the flooding discusses how the increase in storm strength and frequency across the country is related to climate change:

Several readers have asked if this flooding is due in part to climate change. Short answer, yes, it could be a factor. A good analogy is that climate change and storm intensity are like loaded dice and rolling snake-eyes. You can't say that a specific storm, or roll, would not have occured had it not been for climate change, or loaded dice. Only that the frequency of intense storms, or snake eyes, is greater. But regardless, the end result on our aging infrastructure is the same:

Experts say the increasing frequency of severe storms and flooding is undermining the integrity of aging levees, bridges and dams that were not designed to withstand the water flow and pressure that contributed to destruction like that at Lake Delton.