Rain

Torrential rain is wrecking havoc in Taiwan, as we here in Japan are also entering rainy season. Image from Michael Turton's blog shows a great before-after capture of Mucha, a district in Taipei.

It brings home why we need those ugly concrete riverbanks in this part of the world... If you work in Tokyo, for example, and live across any of the large rivers, you will appreciate why the rivers are built to look like this.

Turton also mentions something I wasn't aware of, regarding dams. Too much silt means the lifespan of reservoirs and dams may be shortened. Typhoons in particular can release a lot of silt  and mud into dams, meaning their water retaining capabilities are reduced. This can lead to the kind of flooding now seen in Taiwan. Ouch.

Unpredictable weather means more stress on dams that are exposed to conditions they were not designed for. Dams of course are also important for energy production (hydro power) and many older dams may need to be rebuilt, at huge costs. And of course cities like Tokyo or Taipei are built on river delta areas that have been drained by man-made rivers (really canals) and reservoirs since hundreds of years ago, not exactly the most clever places to house millions of people... Ouch X2.

Read more: Rain = Silt

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