Colleagues tell me that 10 years ago, the idea of flooded streets in Beijing was a rarity, although it’s becoming more commonplace these days.
Down in Thailand, the capital, Bangkok, which was built on a network of canals and waterways, is slowly sinking as the canals are filled in to be replaced by roads, and the water has no-where to go.
I’m no geologist or scientist, but I can offer anecdotal proof that Bangkok is sinking.
When I first went there as a green foreign correspondent in 1972, the road near our office building had a steep kerb, maybe 10 inches high. I returned about 10 years ago and that same kerb is now over three feet above road level. It’s outside the McDonald’s (specialised local offering, the McThaiBurger. Not for the unwary.)
Floods in Bangkok can be epic, as I can attest.
Ho Chi Minh City is also subjected to torrential rainfall, but since these are a routine occurrence during the monsoon season, as in Hong Kong a well-developed series of storm drains quickly clears the water away.
London, as the pessimists note (why are they always French?), has more than its fair share of rain. But just in case things get a little over the top, we have a massive flood barrier across the Thames downriver from Greenwich. As soon as the tides get abnormal, the large, clamshell-like booms are lowered. It happens a couple of times a year.
A comforting sight, especially from my wife’s design studio, although she was less than impressed when I pointed out she was the wrong side of the barrier.
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