Erosion

On August 23, 2011 we had an earthquake.  Maybe you heard about it.  In 1875 we had a 4.8 that shook some chimneys loose.   A 4.5 in December of 2003 shook some windows and knocked over some knick-knacks.  At 1:51 pm on the 23rd we had a 5.8.  Out on the West End of Richmond we watched the ground roll and folks as far away as Toronto knew something was amiss.

On Saturday, August 27th most of Virginia was hunkered down as Hurricane Irene moved up the East Coast.  This was not our first Irene.  An Irene followed Dennis and Floyd and roughed up Virginia a little in October of 1999.  This Irene was different.   Visiting some friends in Richmond and driving through the Fan district proved that.

As many of us get back to air conditioning and the sounds of chain saws gets less frequent we wanted to take a moment to talk about the impacts of these sorts of disasters and offer some tips for being prepared ecologically.

The first and obvious impact from something like Irene is from the water.  Flooding creates quite a mess.  Following Katrina in New Orleans people had to deal with a fetid pool of tainted floodwater for weeks.  Oil from offshore rigs, coastal refineries, and even corner gas stations fouled the floodwaters from the start.  Much like Eastern Virginia, New Orleans has a vibrant industrial economy and solvents and chemicals added to the witches brew that stewed in The Big Easy.  The Environmental Protection Agency considers Katrina the biggest disaster it ever had to assess.

Coastal erosion and local flooding are also significant problems.  Winds from Andrew in South Florida moved barrier islands, flooded estuaries with salt water, and stripped forests bare of their leaves.  Strong storms like Irene have the same sorts of impacts on Virginia.  Shifting sands and strong storm currents disrupt oyster beds in the Bay.  Flooding re-routes rivers and re-shapes coastlines.  Much like a forest fire is sometimes a good and natural thing a hurricane is supposed to happen.  Geologists say that many of our barrier islands are likely the result of a long ago storm leaving behind a giant sandbar, so thank you Mother Nature!

What can we do to help lessen the human impact of such an event?

We talked a couple of weeks ago about the “dead zone” in the Chesapeake Bay.  Pesticides and farm run-off helped create that.  Reduce your dependence on commercial farms and we’ll reduce the amount of stuff we spray on the fields that drain into the Bay.

Going to the shore?  Heed the signs!  If it says “Stay Off Dunes” it’s because those dunes are a windbreak and prevent high tides and storm surges from flooding inland areas.  All of that sea grass swaying in the breeze has a purpose.  Sea grass isn’t the only solution!  Plant something!  While many of us are cursing the tree that knocked out our power or crushed our car the plants and trees of Central Virginia played an important part in mitigating the effects of Irene.  Trees blocked damaging winds, plants drank up rain water, shrubs protected homes and wildlife.  Much of Virginia needed the rains that Irene brought but the rains needed something to keep it here in Virginia.  Plants, grasses and trees helped the rain stay here and end up quenching our thirst instead of running back out to sea.

What’s in the shed?  We know that you’re all trying to reduce your use of dangerous chemicals for cleaning and greening but what is that can lurking under the work bench?  If you haven’t used it in a while then get rid of it!  In a flood it becomes a water bourne contaminant.  Yuck.

As long as we’re on the yucky chemical topic, what’s your contribution to global warming?  Many climatologists are saying that we’ve been lucky too long.  Major hurricanes are fueled by warm waters in the Atlantic.  We see a hurricane in Virginia about every 5 or 6 years.  Most of our big storms come to us as a category 1 or 2.  Irene was a limping-along 1 when she sucker-punched us.  Climate studies are saying that we need to re-evaluate the hurricane strength ratings since we are on the way to a category 6 storm.  Irene was a 1.  Floyd was a 2 when it hit us.  Andrew was a 5 and wiped southern Florida clean.  Do you really want to see a 6?

Lastly:  Meet your neighbors.  As we walked the neighborhoods Sunday and Monday following Irene we made many new friends.  We saw people sharing food, water, phones, generators, saws and rakes, and fellowship.  Your neighbor might have lost a tree.  Your neighbor might have lost their home.  It might have been you.

Are you ready for the next one?