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As waters rise, a community must decide: Do we stay or go?
Faced with more frequent flooding and worse to come, the Philadelphia environmental justice community of Eastwick is grappling with difficult questions about its future: Will levees and flood walls protect them, or should residents abandon their homes and move to higher ground?
Photo by Giovanni Arechavaleta on Unsplash
One way to lower California's flood risk? Give rivers space
To prevent flooding, communities often raise levees next to rivers higher and higher. Today, NPR explores about a new approach: just giving rivers some space to flow.
California faces catastrophic flood dangers — and a need to invest billions in protection
The storms that have been battering California offer a glimpse of the catastrophic floods that scientists warn will come in the future and that the state is unprepared to endure.
Photo by Robert Linder on Unsplash
Making room for the river: Communities look at nature-based solutions
Many communities are shifting away from traditional flood mitigation tactics to make room for the water instead.
Ravaged by hurricanes, a historic Black community fights for survival
Ironton, a small incorporated community in Louisiana, was devastated by Hurricane Ida. But the destruction was not inevitable. Founded by freed people who were previously enslaved, Ironton residents had to fight for running water, sewage – and levees.
Photo by Florian Wehde on Unsplash
A $52 billion proposal aims to protect New York Harbor from storm surges
The proposal for 12 movable sea barriers across waterways like Jamaica Bay replaces a disputed plan for a single, larger outer-harbor wall.
Richard B. Rood: America's summer of floods: What cities can learn from today's climate crises to prepare for tomorrow's
Flood risks are rising as the climate warms. The risks are complex, as a levee or new roadway in one place can worsen flooding somewhere else.
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