After digging itself out of "Snowmageddon" over the holidays, western Washington was hit with heavy rainfall this week, causing massive flooding. Roads, including major arteries like I-5 (pictured above), are closed and entire neighborhoods evacuated.
Sure, Seattle’s known for its rain, but this is ridiculous! So who’s responsible? Well, us, it turns out.
Scientists say a man-made triple whammy of logging, development, and climate change are to blame. And we shouldn’t be surprised ...
A year ago (almost to the day), University of Washington geologist David Montgomery issued a warning to state legislators about the flooding that ravaged the region in 2007:
"It appears to me that the flooding and landslide problems (from)
this December storm stem from the combination of an unusually large
storm and decades of risky behavior both in upland forestry practices
and downstream floodplain development.
"The combination put people at risk and will do so again under the present system."
Silly scientist! What does he know?
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Comments
View as Flat
Delay And Deny Posted 2:05 pm
09 Jan 2009
People are mistaken in thinking that soddy, rain washed Western Washington is a place to live.
I say, go East, young couple...to Moses Lake or the interior. Plenty of space there...and check out those rainfall numbers on the interior...yep, it's a Paradise waiting to bloom!
...if there are self made Purgatories, then we all have to live in them.
--"This Side of Paradise", TOS
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abbeyroad Posted 11:32 am
14 Jan 2009
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delpadre Posted 2:35 pm
14 Jan 2009
Also, the Seattle area, in relation to much of Western WA, has less annual precipitation due to the rain shadow effect (Olympic Mountains to the west). For example, to the south of the Seattle area, on average Olympia receives 12.5 more inches of precipitation. A more dramatic example would be the coastal town of Westport, WA, which on average receives 36.3 more inches of precipitation than Seattle.
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