Climate Change Intensifying Damage from Severe Weather Events

Those who hoped the devastation caused by Tropical Depression Ida in the Philadelphia area would be a once in a lifetime event may see their hopes dashed in years to come. As the effects of climate change worsen, experts expect more localized and severe storms, which can wreak havoc on infrastructure already in need of repair. Extreme weather, including longer, drier droughts, hotter heat waves, more severe storm surges, and snowier winters, will soon become the norm. Climate change caused by human activity has led to spiking temperatures, more evaporation, intensified rainfall, and higher sea levels resulting in “global climate chaos.”

A lack of resiliency within our infrastructure compounds the calamities expected from more severe weather events. American infrastructure has simply not been designed to withstand the frequency of such severe weather events. How will levees and storm drains originally built to withstand one-hundred-year floods hold up when these events happen annually? In cities and other highly populated areas, drastic changes in land use have reduced natural barriers to flooding. For example, where an undeveloped area of grass might have provided an opportunity to absorb excess rainfall, newly developed parking lots and structures are not as permeable, leading water to run off into drains and creeks instead. Furthermore, rising sea levels and erosion at the coasts have brought population centers ever closer to flood zones. In Philadelphia, rising tides and water levels in both the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers have resulted in intense flooding in recent years.

            The Philadelphia area is no stranger to these dire effects of climate change. Tropical Depression Ida made landfall at the end of August and caused widespread damage along the eastern seaboard. Along with overflowing waterways and flash floods, now common in Pennsylvania, came the far more infrequent warnings for tornadoes throughout the state. Once the storm settled, five people lay dead. Together the flooding and tornados caused upwards of $117 million of damage and 100,000 power outages in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Fulton, Montgomery, Philadelphia, and York Counties. In Philadelphia, images of people swimming in the flooded Vine Street Expressway spread across social media. The waters of the Schuylkill engulfed the bike and walking paths usually situated high above the waters’ edge. The Pickering West water treatment plant of Chester County was hobbled to half its capacity by storm floods.   Residents had to resort to boiling their drinking water until the plant regained full operations. More than sixty other water treatment plants in the area experienced power outages that forced them to rely on back-up generators, raising further questions of how energy and water infrastructure will weather severe storms in the future.

            In response to the widespread destruction, Governor Wolf requested that President Biden declare a “major disaster” in the commonwealth under the Stafford Act in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Philadelphia, and York Counties.  The commonwealth must demonstrate an excess of $19.7 million in damages in order to qualify for relief under the Stafford Act. Pennsylvania’s damage from Ida far exceeded this threshold, though it was difficult to demonstrate due to the extent of the power outages and flooding. Additionally, Wolf requested Individual Assistance for those in affected counties, allowing individuals to request federal resources for uninsured property damage, disaster counseling, and disaster case management. Public Assistance in these same counties would channel federal resources to help in existing state and local efforts to mitigate the damage. Lastly, a Hazard Mitigation Grant for all 67 counties would funnel federal resources to long term mitigation efforts.

            As Pennsylvania and other states recover from the destruction of Ida and conversations about developing and updating infrastructure arise at the federal, state, and local levels, resiliency is at the top of mind for many. Among the considerations are plans to build levees and floodwalls, update drain systems, and create natural barriers to help cities weather the storms. In Manayunk, the city now requires backflow preventers in homes. Philadelphia, along with hundreds of other cities, struggles with the problem of sewer overflow in aging infrastructure. The city has subsequently taken a bold approach to deal with its water problems—the Philadelphia Water Department plans to reduce stormwater runoff by 85% by 2036 through natural infrastructure like rain gardens and other green stormwater features in public spaces.  Local governments are taking steps to identify and hedge against future problems, but action on a far larger scale will be necessary to ensure population centers are resilient against the climate threats to come. It remains to be seen how the Biden Administration and Congress will respond to vexing problems in upcoming infrastructure policy proposals.

Therese Gildea (LAW ’23) is a student editor for the 10-Q.

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