If not for climate change, 2017’s Hurricane Harvey might have flooded half as many homes in the Houston area, a new study finds.
If not for climate change, 2017’s Hurricane Harvey might have flooded half as many homes in the Houston area, a new study finds.
“We already know that climate change is increasing the severity and frequency of extreme weather events,” Kevin Smiley, a sociologist at Louisiana State University and lead author of the study, said in a statement. “But now researchers are able to pinpoint the extent of damage from a specific extreme weather event such as Hurricane Harvey and the resulting floods.”
Warmer air holds more moisture, leading to heavier downpours. Previous estimates suggest that climate change increased Hurricane Harvey’s rainfall total by 15 to 38 percent. When Harvey hit Harris County, Texas five years ago this month, it flooded around 100,000 homes. But without climate change, the study found, some 30,000 to 50,000 homes might have been spared, avoiding billions of dollars of residential damage.
Read more at: Yale Environment 360
Flooding on the outskirts of Houston after Hurricane Harvey, August 31, 2017. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army National Guard)
