Opinion: Time’s up for the new planet Earth

Debris littered throughout Swannanoa, N.C., in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Debris littered throughout Swannanoa, N.C., in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post

By MICHAEL SILLS

Published: 11-30-2024 7:00 AM

Dr. Michael Sills was the chief engineer of the New Hampshire Environmental Agency, NHDES-WMD, for nearly 30 years, overseeing the Super Fund, RCRA Solid & Hazardous Waste program, and Emergency Spill Response functions. He also served as chief engineer for several private environmental engineering firms during his career. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and is currently focused on global warming issues facing the planet.

I read with interest the many articles pleading for global warming control before we reach a tipping point from which we cannot recover. The only problem with that goal is that we have already reached a tipping point that needs immediate attention.

Specifically, the warming of the oceans has caused the recent flooding, hurricanes, storm surges, and tornadoes, which have plagued our East Coast from Florida to North Carolina and west to Atlanta.

For the last several years, the warming oceans have increased the evaporation of water and formed “atmospheric rivers” (ARs). These airborne rivers can be thousands of miles long, and once over land, they rain with great intensity. ARs also contain an unknown amount of water, an unknown landing point on the land, the rate at which it will fall, and the length of the rainfall event. These are all criteria engineers need to design functioning flood control infrastructure, such as dams, bypass routes, and levees.

We are designing in the dark for protection from the new planet Earth. The old planet Earth we have known for eons is gone, probably forever. To mitigate this threat, we need to do the following immediately.

Task the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to update the topography and flood zones in the country as they originally did in the 1970s for the Federal Flood Insurance program. USACE should use the latest version of the HEC-RAS software (version 5.0.3, as of 2018). Updating the amount of new impervious surfaces in the country will also be a prime objective.

Establish a National Flood and Surge Protection Center (NFSPC) under USACE in partnership with NOAA and FEMA. The primary goal of the NFSPC will be to test and develop new design criteria and flood and surge protection infrastructure. This work should incorporate the research findings of the Scripts Western Weather and Water Extremes Center at UC San Diego.

Their research has concentrated on quantifying the key characteristics of ARs and possible infrastructure concepts. The USACE will also serve as an Incident Command Center (ICC) and utilize its own personnel and equipment, as well as those of its contractors, to assist in flood problems directly in the case of overwhelmed local efforts.

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We need to establish a federal National Flood and Surge Protection Grant (NFSPG) Program to identify inadequate drainage and flood protection needs of all the communities in the United States. This program can be structured after the USEPA Clean Water Act Construction Grants Program for sewers and treatment plants. This grant program will give each municipality in the country a chance to evaluate its protection against the new AR threat.

Much of the funding for the above recommendations is already included in the annual USACE Budget and Funding, the Infrastructure and Investment Act funding, and finally, the Inflation Reduction Act funds (for global warming extreme weather mitigation and adaption systems and facilities).

We must implement the above recommendations as soon as possible to avoid further loss of life and property in our country. We ignore them at our peril. There will not be a second chance.