Population Health
February 25, 2020
Planning climate change in China with more permeable stormwater systems
Sometime, about 50 years from now, a threatening storm probably will push out of the South China Sea into southeast China’s Pearl River Delta, a densely populated region that includes Hong Kong, Macao and Zhuhai.
The rains are expected to be even more intense by 2070 because the atmosphere will hold more moisture due to a warmer climate. A flash flood could be deadly.
However, a downburst on the delta could be absorbed without serious flooding thanks to “sponge city” planning based on simulations being completed by Eric Salathé, a climate scientist at the University of Washington Bothell.