The tragedy in Texas was horrific – possibly 80 dead – after 250mm of rain fell in just 3 hours. Of course people are looking for someone, or some organisation to blame. Is it facetious to suggest that it maybe referred to as “An act of god”. This term is used to identify unpredictable events and is much used by insurance policies to avoid claims. And it was a summer camp for Christian girls. Just sayin’ thats all!
Analysis of the weather event has pointed to the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry which passed over the Gulf of Mexico (or can it be natures way of rebelling against Trump’s renaming it the Gulf of America? This lifted huge amounts of moisture into the atmosphere above Texas. And the hurricanes season in the south-west North Atlantic has only just begun. As a former geography teacher I have long taught that in a hurricane the wind is of less importance than the storm surge and the excess rainfall. It is predicted to be a busy year for hurricanes – but one can never be 100% certain about long range forecasts. However I can be certain that there will be another horrendous hurican in the next couple of years. With higher temperatures there is more evaporation, and thus more flooding. I am not sure about the formation of tornado’s, but …. they are more likely to proliferate with conditions favouring their development.
There is also a human element here. Apparently floods were not unusual – why was there no escape plan? Yes it rained a lot and the river rose rapidly. But with so many little girls resident, surely there should have been an evacuation procedure. If this event had occured on a Geography field trip there is absolutely no way in which we would not have evacuated the area. Radio warnings were given. Gross negligence seems to have occurred!