How do storm surges work and why are they so devastating?
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Basically it’s when an off-shore storm like a hurricane *pushes* a massive amount of water towards land. This water floods the land and if combined with high-tide can create a super hightide flooding the shore.
It’s devastating for two reasons – the first being that humans have built homes and towns in areas where this stuff happens, meaning *duh* they are going to get flooded. But also in building things where storm surges occur we also destroy the natural barriers like plants and earth that naturally protected the area in the first place. Many storm surge prone regions have natural conditions that deal with them, such as wet lands and mangrove forests. When you demolish those to erect a beachside down you’re sort of doubling down on the damage.
The other problem is that the water might not clear super quickly after the storm. This means you have tons of dirty water filled with debris and things that can hurt people but also have a risk of things like sewage backing up and water borne diseases. So it’s not just the damage to the property, the people who live there are now exposed to things like dysentery and cholera and all sorts of other “old timey” illnesses that proper sewage treatment and water treatment takes care. In most cities the sewage systems are connected to the rainwater/gutter system. Even a mildly heavy rain can overflow this and cause raw sewage to be pumped directly to the nearby bodies of water. Combine that with a storm surge and now you have all the sewage just sitting around stagnating in people’s homes, streets, and towns.
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