The Culvert of Inadequacy . . . or, Global Warming Near You

[Kulindahr]

Impact here is turning out to be something that was a dim possibility when our university botany classes were helping with data to feed the biology department's global warming model: we're having cooler but drier summers. The lower temperatures make it easy to think that rainfall isn't as important, but this is settling into not-quite-drought conditions year after year. I notice the impact because up to six years ago when we planted a hundred native trees in my dune conservation efforts we could expect that two-thirds would survive to maturity, but the last three years we've been losing three-quarters of what we plant along with enough from previous years that the effective survival rate is about one in five. The only bright spot is that this year has been dry enough that even the major invasive species have been suffering a huge die-off.

And meanwhile sea-level rise has changed the behavior of the dunes along the beach to where there really isn't a foredune at all, just a main dune. We could probably fight that if we could get beach access plus the equivalent of about five hundred Christmas trees a year (take a Christmas tree, slice off the branches on one side so it will lay flat; place them end-to-end and stick the trimmed branches in among the tops of the trees to make the 'sand fence' more even -- the trees slow the wind and collect sand, resulting in a dune growing along the line of trees) to place strategically to push the dune line farther west, though one big problem is that the south jetty was built with monster boulders instead of just large boulders as jetties used to be, so the beach by the jetty grows westward only slowly, which leaves the dunes to the south more vulnerable to storms. If we had beach access I'd sneak in ten yards of six-inch and one-foot crushed rock and fill in between those giant boulders to keep the beach sand from just washing through and back into the channel -- and stuff some Christmas trees in on top to slow the water more and hold moisture in the sand.

 

[NotHardUp1]

NotHardUp1 I noticed that you mentioned new development upstream from you. That caught my attention. . . . . That problem is not due to climate change.

For brevity (stop laughing, you guys), I didn't go into the amount of development that has gone on. Huntville and Madison County is in a boom. Alabama has literally given away the farm to developers and to the aerospace & defense companies, the military, and the automotive industry. Tax incentives and government-built factories and business parks have lured in the greedy to the chum in the waters. The companies sign agreements to pro20vide a certain number of jobs in a certain range and get free buildings, no or low taxes, and basically a taxpayer giveaway. Years later, when the company doesn't quite reach the contractual levels, the company and the governments just rewrite the agreements and no one hears about it. It's a win-win as long as you are not the stupid fucks at the bottom, paying your taxes every year. And none of the state media are going to cover such a story. Would kill the goose laying the golden egg.

So, there are MANY new developments upstream. Every farmer selling a 40-acre tract sees 20-40 houses built, or a set of 3-story apartments. The total impact is seen downstream, where I am.

But, the rainfalls are getting heavier, and year-round. And we're a six-hour drive inland from the coast, and considerably upland.

 

[NotHardUp1]

The creek with the fast-flowing water looks particularly dangerous. In my home state of North Carolina, global warming has manifested itself in slow moving hurricanes with record rainfall. Hurricane Floyd, and later hurricane Florence caused terrible flooding. I had family and friends who lost their homes due to record flooding.

That is a bit of an illusion. I squatted low to take that photo, to show the current, but it is right up against the road, where the creek collides with the road, then follows it for a hundred feet to find an escape through the culvert. The current stays in that channel. Every time the creeks spills across the lower acre of my propitty, the current is so mild that it only sweeps away leaves and gumballs, and never erodes the land.

 

[NotHardUp1]

There's also been more thunderstorms ... and I love a good thunderstorm/lightning show, so I've been enjoying that!

Same here. I missed them so when living in Anchorage. But there were other plusses.

The storms this week had more lightning and thunder than any since I moved to Huntsville.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Crazy that they didn't do it right!

There's always time to do it twice, or three times. It's too expensive to do it right the first time. We'll kid ourselves and budget a quarter of what it will take. Then, we'll fiddle fart around with half-measures and re-do those several times, but not count the cost of those, as they're just maintenance. Then, we'll rip out all of that and do it properly, likely doubling the necessary cost overall by stretching it out, doing it in increments, repairing damages the half-measures caused.

Alabama is so proud of limiting its local taxes by state constitution, trumping any city or county that has the wealth and should tax it to keep up with such rapid development and growth.

Roll, Tide! The only think that fucking matters to these Tommy Tuberville loving fucktards. And he wasn't even a UA coach. Erm, War Eagle!!

 

[NotHardUp1]

Impact here is turning out to be something that was a dim possibility when our university botany classes were helping with data to feed the biology department's global warming model: we're having cooler but drier summers.

As with the planet, and as you know, it will simply means succession. For some, it will be disastrous. For many, it will mean transition to the species that thrive at the next geographical zone formerly neighboring the current one.

 

[unloadonme]

Every time the creeks spills across the lower acre of my propitty, the current is so mild that it only sweeps away leaves and gumballs, and never erodes the land.

Does it dump a layer of silt over everything instead?

 

[Vannie]

Parts of NJ and NY and Connecticut are receiving 8 or more inches of rain at a time.

I'm thinking of building an Ark.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Does it dump a layer of silt over everything instead?

No. I guess it's the nature of the creekbed already being scoured down to rock or grit or clay, and the lands that are flooded above me are all covered in grass or weeds or plants, so no sand is carried. My lawn under the trees is lush and green and no mud deposited anywhere there.

Other than a few twigs and limbs that are flotsam, I don't even have to hose off the driveway.

 

[Dargelos]

We have had lots of rain most of the time but that is normal for northern England, we are used to it.
If only there was some way we could lend our rain to those parts of the world currently on fire.
But rain is like money, those who need it desparately get none and those who already have way too much get ever more and more.

 

[NotHardUp1]

We have had lots of rain most of the time but that is normal for northern England, we are used to it.
If only there was some way we could lend our rain to those parts of the world currently on fire.
But rain is like money, those who need it desparately get none and those who already have way too much get ever more and more.

Indeed. If only there were technologies that would make it possible to pump vast amounts of a liquid into storage containers, and then either ship it by rail or vessel to an area where it might be used. Maybe, one day we'll be able to open a valve in Europe and a supply flows all the way from distant Russia.

One day.

 

[Alistair]

We’ll never learn not to build in flood prone areas will we?

 

[NotHardUp1]

It's the nature of developers. The best sites are built upon early by settlers and then the wealthy. The following waves over time pushes building into areas that were too problematic earlier. The houses above me to my left are all on a ridge. My house is the last one on the ridge before it descends to the creek flood plain. Thus, my house is a two story home, the basement at entry level with the garage, but the living spaces chiefly upstairs.

The real problem is that the local governments allow such things as this road, which clearly bisects a wet bottom land. They could have required developers to make the road from the other side, or build a bridge, or have more culverts. They didn't do any of it.

The same thing happens when they let developers build on hillsides and they later slide off into the valley below.

 

[me203]

sog-a?

 

[me203]

The same thing happens when they let developers build on hillsides and they later slide off into the valley below.

Indeed. I remember an area near a house that my father once owned. There were houses on top of hillside above a beach front road. That hillside was pretty steep, and there were mud slides every winter that would block part of the road. I can remember seeing that a number of times. My father commented he fully expected those houses would sooner or later come down during some heavy rain/mud slide incident. (I wonder if those houses slid down onto the beach if the property taxes would go up, since since they'd no longer be "beach view" but "beach located" at that point! )

 

[metta]

The development I live in took around 20 years to approve. A lot of engineering was required to build it. Only a large developer could develop it for that reason. It is a very controversial area and has almost all the risks possible (fire, floods, earthquakes) listed in our CC&R's. We were fine when we had a 100-year flood in 2004-2005. Some of the homes are in the flood risk zone. My home is above that risk line the engineers created. We have dealt with several major forest fires. But it is a unique place to live, and we have had experiences that most people don't get to experience. We get so much wildlife. I have a seasonal creek behind my home, and the entire development is surrounded by forest and a major river. There are 3 dams above us. The neighbors feel it is worth the risks. The homeowners insurance renewal is the biggest concern.

 

[NotHardUp1]

^That's what real governments do.

Here, Roy's brother-in-law is the County Judge and has influence in the zoning office, so Roy and his partners do whatever they want.

 

[rareboy]

I see it in the death of entire varieties of trees, the collapse of bird and insect life, the dropping water tables and the increasingly random extreme weather events. And at the same time there are other things moving to take the place...my gardens this year are totally out of control in a way they've never been. But we see the effects in the deciduous and coniferous trees and the grasses.

Just hoping that in our lifetime, my partner and I can restore our farm as a headwaters 'oasis' and offset some of the damage being done around us.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I see it in the death of entire varieties of trees, the collapse of bird and insect life, the dropping water tables and the increasingly random extreme weather events.

The truth of global warning actually means those events are not random, just that we cannot yet more accurately link them all in a model that predicts them well.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I should add that I called my county commissioner today and he isn't considerng any mitigation until homes flood. He said that if the county were to add another culvert, it would shift the overload to the other side of the road and downstream to the house one block away that is just before the culvert that goes under another road. That would overload that culvert and flood that home more often. It got water in it Friday in the wee hours.

Would seem that the thing to do would be to add a culvert down there, as there are no homes downstream from it, only a creek passing through a lot of farm fields.