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June Marked by Record U.S. Heat Waves, Severe Weather

/in , , /by /Water News Network

June 2023 was record hot for some parts of the U.S., while other locations were roiled by severe weather and poor air quality, according to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. Heat waves led to record high temperatures in Puerto Rico, the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, Texas, and Louisiana.

Thick smoke from Canadian wildfires created air quality issues for millions of people in portions of the Northeast and Great Lakes this June. On June 7, around 100 million people across 16 states were under air quality alerts while New York City reported the worst air quality of major cities worldwide.

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Deadly Flooding is Hitting Several Countries at Once. Scientists Say This Will Only Be More Common

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Isabella O'Malley, Brittany Peterson, and Drew Costley

Schools in New Delhi were forced to close Monday after heavy monsoon rains battered the Indian capital, with landslides and flash floods killing at least 15 people over the last three days. Farther north, the overflowing Beas River swept vehicles downstream as it flooded neighborhoods. In Japan, torrential rain pounded the southwest, causing floods and mudslides that left two people dead and at least six others missing Monday.

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Corps of Engineers Considers Nature-Based Flood Control

/in , /by /U.S. Newsby Travis Loller, Associated Press

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is known for damming rivers and building levees to keep waterways at bay. But a new initiative seeks natural flood control solutions as climate change brings increasingly frequent and severe weather events that test the limits of concrete and steel.

It only makes sense to use Mother Nature’s flood defenses as one of the tools to combat destruction from intense rains in the middle of the country and storms and sea level rise on the coasts, says Todd Bridges, who heads the Corps Engineering with Nature initiative.

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