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Over the past two weeks, we have seen deadly flooding hit the border of Nepal and Tibet as well as here in the U.S. at the Grand Canyon. But these were not the only flash-flood emergencies this summer. Communities across the U.S. have been grappling with flooding that doesn't always make national news. NPR's Ava Berger breaks down the extreme weather.
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AVA BERGER, BYLINE: That was the sound of gushing rain and fierce woods (ph) in Felicia Martinez's Tucson, Arizona, neighborhood last week. Martinez has lived in Tucson her entire life, so she and other locals are very accustomed to the sounds of flash floods. But she says she knows the storms in her area are getting worse.
FELICIA MARTINEZ: Like an old, old steam train with the big old smoke fumes coming out. I mean, it just sounds loud, and it hits you, yes. And I've seen 61 seasons. I've seen storms, but it's getting more extreme.
BERGER: At least two people are dead after a flash flood in the Grand Canyon over the weekend. Last month, at least seven people died in floods in northwest Indiana. The city of Gary, Indiana, was without power for two weeks. Earlier in July, West Virginia officials said that some areas received 4 1/2 inches of rain in 37 minutes. Throughout the summer, from New York to Texas to Hawaii, stories of record rainfall and smashed homes dominated the news.
JEFF MOW: Every day you're reading about flooding somewhere in the country.
BERGER: Jeff Mow works on flood awareness in Montana. He's a former superintendent of Glacier National Park, but he's seen the flooding impact much more than just the parks.
MOW: It's really how our natural systems and even our built sewer, you know, stormwater runoff systems, they're just not designed for this level of rainfall.
BERGER: The flooding different states are experiencing has different causes, but researchers say climate change connects these intense floods. In the Southwest, it's monsoon season. And in that semiarid climate, flash floods are part of the geography, says Eyad Atallah, an associate professor in the department of hydrology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Arizona.
EYAD ATALLAH: You have poor absorption of water by the soil and localized heavy rains, and the combination of the two things are prone to flash floods.
BERGER: It's also an El Nino year, which is making ocean temperatures warmer, causing more evaporation. A warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, which can fuel more intense rain. Now, it's hard to pinpoint whether a particular event was directly caused by climate change, Atallah says. Instead, he thinks of a pair of loaded die.
ATALLAH: It's kind of like loading the dice a little bit. You know, you're loading it to land on six a little more often. Now, does it mean that it wouldn't have landed at six anyway? It might have - right? - but you're just kind of increasing the odds that you're going to land on six.
BERGER: As for ways people can protect themselves, the National Weather Service sends out warnings before floods. But Fred Martin Ralph, the director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San Diego, said it's difficult to accurately predict these floods.
FRED MARTIN RALPH: Those are some of the toughest practical forecasting problems that we have in meteorology.
BERGER: The flood warning systems can save lives. Last year, after flash floods in the Hill Country area of Texas killed more than 136 people, improved warning systems were installed. When the area flooded again this past July, a new emergency system warned people to get out. This time, two people died despite catastrophic flooding. Ava Berger, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF CURREN$Y AND STATIK SELEKTAH SONG, "GRAN TURISMO (FEAT. TERMANOLOGY)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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