A flash in the pan for a very small part of Australia's coast.... won't see that again for a long time.

The Northern Hemisphere is a different case.  Occasional deluges will happen due to evaporated ice water melt, but in my analysis, there will be little real (record) flooding.

Look to the records of the last flood of equal magnitude in an area; it is still within a recent time frame, so nothing unusual.

What is becoming unusual is the persistent clear sky weather and general lack of rain.  The vegetation attests to the general dryness.

NOTE: local weather is not world climate.  To confuse the two is just misleading the readership.

But no arguments there, I'd rather talk about the Rio Grande.  Yup, a river runs through it, although a decade ago the water didn't even make it into the Gulf.  It is also exactly where the Fed wants to erect a massive fence project to keep out the illegal aliens.  

There are a lot of good arguments against the fence, such as ecology, farming, ranching, tourism, and even a major university that would be cut in half (you'd need to have a passport to go to your dorm?).  But flood levees is the most powerful one.

The International Boundary Water Commission will take up the matter because the levees on the US side are in such bad repair that entire counties could be flooded in a 100-year food.  Hidalgo County up the Rio Valley will be especially hard hit.  Thus the levees and irrigation systems have to be repaired BEFORE the fence can be constructed.

Side note:  the IBWC might also consider whether we are giving all the river rights and acreage to Mexico by constructing an inland fence on the levees, since a fence could define a new "border."

The underlying problem is not unique to the Rio Valley but possibly throughout the entire United States:  the Flood Maps.  These maps compiled by USGS and all these wonderful people tell you the spatial extent of flooded areas in a 100-year flood event.  These maps are used for the purposes of Flood Insurance and other cool things.  

What happened over time was two things:

•  New geographic information systems did a better job at estimating true spatial extent (as opposed to stick survey topography by hand) which nearly doubled in some areas, and

•  Facilities such as dams, flood canals, and levees were substandard, ill-maintained, and severely compromised.

Taken together, my criticism of the referenced report is that while a global perspective is good, it only mentions the Klamath River and California dam projects as being "bad" in the US.  This might be misleading because the casual reader could conclude everything is OK here in the States.

Hey, how about the mighty Rio Grand?
sammie

Onward through the fog

It is worth noting not only that the Rio Grande, "big river," is not really all that big, but also that Spanish-speakers do not call it that.  They call it "Rio Bravo," which means fierce, or wild, or violent river.  If "bravo" is a more accurate description than "grande," then it would suggest that the river can have very strong currents and be difficult to cross, at least in Spring and Summer.

Torrents are a common and sometimes deadly phenomenon in many parts of the Southwest.  If you are exploring the floor of a narrow canyon, and a rainstorm dumps a lot of water even some distance from where you are, you could shortly find yourself in a lot of trouble.  In fact those networks of rock-walled canyons would seem to have an effect on flooding water similar to what Kate's study says about artificial structures.

But how relevant the seasonal torrent phenomenon may be to the quantity and flow of water in the Rio Grande and Red River systems, is hard to say.

On another note: Where is the university through which the border fence is supposed to be built?

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

I wish one could post pictures here easily, but I have a picture from about 5 years ago when a few Mexicans and hippies got a few cases of beer and dug the Rio Grand so it flowed once again into the Gulf, in a ditch about three feet wide.  

Since that time, major rainfall events have turned the Rio into a true torrent, and many people die trying to cross it illegally into the US.  The Big Bend rafting is white-water once again and is highly recommended if you can get to the middle of absolutely nowhere - I happen to know some of the folks who run it from my old Austin days.

Flooding came up as a major focus of what would happen if a hurricane stalled over the Valley.  Lots of people don't know there are several hundred miles of irrigation ditches in addition to the Rio itself, including a salt diversion canal from some old salt-dome lakes.  About 600,000 people would be instantly homeless if that all failed; I would put the figure at about a million because of the folks here on visa and other status.

The part I live near is the confluence with the Gulf of Mexico, which is a wonderful natural area of river and resaca (oxbow-lake) ecology that supports over 400 kinds of birds, the ocelot, and the jagarundi.  The smart money is waiting for details but as much as 10,000 acres of prime nature conservation land PAID BY THE TAXPAYER CITIZENS OF THE US would become worthless.  The US Fish and Wildlife Service is the largest conservation land-holder in this area, although much is owned by folks who wanted to preserve butterfly, bird, and wildlife by deeding the land to a conservancy of their choice - these are mostly postage stamp parcels but very well attended.

While El Paso might have its charm, I will have to agree that the Rio flowing there is godforsaken ugly, dry or raging.  /sammie

Onward through the fog

Hey, Sam:  Wow, the area you are talking about is practically my backyard.  I grew up in Harlingen in the 60s.  Man, I got stories.  

My first reaction to the report was kinda like a timewarp, although the title referred to climate change.  Hydrologists have pretty much concluded the disastrous nature of human made water control structures starting 40 years ago.  Every bad thing you could name--extirpation and extinction, water table recession, faster runoff, downstream flooding, accelerated erosion, ruined ag lands, yadi yada yada, has been documented thoroughly.  Even (or especially) hydroelectric dams and the upstream impacts have caused tremendous environmental damage, which gets glossed over.  I suppose the current report adds a current dimension to the problem.

A report from the 70s concluded that the flood control projects in the Los Angeles basin (which we have all seen on screen) were among the worst, most ill-advised, destructive actions ever carried out.  The accelerated runoff is one reason LA has to import water, from the Colorado River and previously the area of Mono Lake.  One hand doesn't know what the other is doing.  

Yeah, the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) were weak to start and now obsolete, partly due to the ever-so-wise Federal budget cuts on one hand and decreased permeability due to rapid development on the other.  FEMA (of Katrina fame) is in charge so we can guess at the outcome.  And the maps were never well publicized and the area where I live in the country has countless homes in the 50-year floodplain, and a lot in the 100-year.  Fortunately in 10 years I have not seen a 100-year event.  But I am real high up, so it will be my neighbors I see floating by.  

Sam, I would have sworn the school in the way of the "be-all-to-end-all" immigrant-snaring fence would be Texas Southmost College/Univ. Texas at Brownsville.  

The river, accurately originally in Spanish "El Rio Bravo del Norte" used to be a much bigger deal.  Annual snowmelt in the southern Rockies caused widespread reliable flooding and was the source of water for the dense semi-tropical forest and all the biodiversity that used to cover the Rio Grande Valley.  All the dams and irrigation projects both sides of the river virtually stopped that.   I used to do surveys for Piping Plovers at Boca Chica and could wade across the mouth of the river with no problem at all.  

I am curious about the plans of USFWS down there.  Can you tell us more about what they are doing?  My Mother was involved in the lobbying for the Wildlife Corridor (which I presume is what you are referring to) so that is kinda close to my heart.

ON the larger subject of flooding, looks like the bloated dead drowned cows have come home to roost, to mix images, animals, and metaphors.

David
Sustainability For Life

Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!

While the US Fish & Wildlife folks are very concerned about the impact on their massive projects along the Rio, they continue their efforts (1,000 acres or more) to rid the noxious plants, replant natives, and specifically try to do something about the Carrizo Cane (Arundo donax).  It is choking the waterways and wetlands so bad it has actually changed the flow of the Rio Grand.  Working with the A&M-Weslaco they're trying to figure out how to get rid of it instead of just mowing the cane - which only seems to make it grow faster!  Insect borers may be a solution, but we know that's dangerous stuff too.

That's just a few things ... glad it brought back some memories, friend.
sammie

Onward through the fog