In Norfolk, evidence of climate change is in the streets at high tide

[SheilaT]

23. Another thing that makes flooding

or potential flooding worse in urban areas is paving. Roads, sidewalks, parking lots, and all the many, many buildings on top of the ground. I remember reading some years back that Houston now experienced worse flooding whenever it rained because that land is very flat and a lot of it is now paved. The original un-paved, un-built on land, can absorb quite a bit more water which now, after all the build up, can only run off some where looking for a sewer or real land.

An aspect of the problem that's never talked about is that there are too many people, too much development everywhere. The sheer numbers of people lead to building in places that shouldn't be built on, or in places that are prone to various disasters such as fire, tornadoes, hurricanes, and so on. Add to that global warming which brings about rising water levels, more intense storms, and severe drought in various places and we have exactly what is going on these days.