Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumMiami East: London's Flood Risk Getting Worse, Esp. In Areas Earmarked For Affordable Housing
On any other day, White Post Lane in Londons Hackney Wick neighborhood crawls with people searching for artisan coffee and taking selfies against the graffiti-covered walls. Outside a newly renovated railway station, craft breweries and cafes stand across from new industrial-style apartment buildings. Hundreds of homes are planned for this area, several advertised at construction sites in 10-feet-tall posters showing a sparkling future.
That vision of Hackney Wick would have been unrecognizable on July 25 last year, when heavy rains sent flash floods through the grounds marked out with flags by property developers. Carl Edlund, who manages HWK, a coffee shop and event space, describes water coming out of nowhere and quickly seeping into the premises just as dozens of people gathered on what was the first weekend in months that social distancing rules had been lifted. The crowd was trapped by rushing waters. I knew it was going to rain but wasnt expecting flooding, Edlund says more than six months later as he unloads beer from a van in preparation for the Friday night rush at HWK.
Most of Londons 32 boroughs saw some flooding during the storm. Residents waded through knee-deep water and sewage that had washed back up through a centuries-old drainage system. Some people used kayaks to get around. Key infrastructure was paralyzed across the city that day. Its a scene thats set to play out more regularly in the British capital. Hackney Wicks plight is worth a closer look, because its both more prone to flooding than other parts of London and also one of dozens of opportunity areas designated by Mayor Sadiq Khan for development to alleviate a housing shortage. Developers are being encouraged to build on flood-prone areas, with some projects approved despite dire warnings of risks from more extreme weather as Londons climate changes.
At least 19 of the 28 opportunity areas contain zones that have been flagged as vulnerable to flooding in a map compiled by Londons City Hall and Bloomberg Associates, the consulting arm of Bloomberg Philanthropies. The map takes into account rainfall patterns along with 16 other metrics that affect residents ability to deal with flooding, including socioeconomic status and proficiency in understanding English-language warnings.
The current data used in the maps understate the risks from global warming in the near future. Scientists have found evidence that the atmosphere can hold 7% more moisture for every degree of warming. That means flood risks are expected to occur more often and, potentially, more intensely. The frequency of torrential rains in London in the fall and winter have increased over the past few decades and is set to rise even more over the course of the century, according to weather experts at the U.K.s Met Office. Climate modelers at the agencys Hadley Centre say that London, like much of the U.K., is expected to see a doubling of extreme rainfall days by 2070.
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https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-london-property-flood-maps-climate-change/?srnd=citylab