This year’s Sierra snowpack is looking a lot like 1983’s, and that was a year of flooding and mudslide disasters. A meteorologist explains what’s ahead.
Articles on Mudslide
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Mudslides start with destabilized land, often from wildfires, and then rain drives the cascading disaster.
A quarter of South Africans in cities are living in informal settlements.
Flooding is arguably even more problematic in informal settlements because of the lack of planning.
An atmospheric river is a band of warm, moisture-laden air many hundreds of kilometres long and hundreds of kilometres wide. It can dump prodigious amounts of rain over a large area.
Studies show climate change is raising the risk of cascading hazards that alone might not be extreme but add up to human disasters. Communities and government agencies aren’t prepared.
A watershed scientist explains why post-wildfire landscapes are so susceptible to landslides – and why those risks are poised to rise.
In response to mudslides that have killed at least 20 people in Southern California, a geologist calls for more resources to study and map landslide hazards so residents can understand the risks.
Unless urban planning is taken seriously in Sierra Leone, there’s a risk that similar disasters like the mudslides could occur with potentially more devastating consequences.
Foreign aid can harm as well as help.
Top contributors
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Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine
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Professor of International Emergency Medicine, University of Manchester
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Lecturer, Njala University
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Professor of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington
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Full Professor and SARChI Chair on Land use Planning., University of KwaZulu-Natal
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Full Professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal
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Research and Operations Meteorologist, Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, University of California, San Diego
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Emeritus Professor, Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University
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Full Professor in Anthropology, University of KwaZulu-Natal
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Professor of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Colorado State University
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PhD researcher at University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of KwaZulu-Natal