Comment by jmyeet | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jmyeet | Hacker News Reader

While it's absolutely true there is a confluence of factors here (eg glacial melt, heat wave and a depression) and that these events are more likely with global warming, I'm disappointed this article didn't cover another important factor: dams.

Flooding used to be a much bigger problem in the Western United States and it was solved with dams. Yes, there is thd risk of dam failure but we're weighing up the real and present risk of flooding regardless against the possible risk of dam failure.

Unfortunately, there has been increasing opposition from the environmental lobby against building dams in the developing world in recent decades (eg [1]) and this matters when such countries are usually dependent on the World Bank and/or IMF to fund their construction.

Dams not only reduce the risk of extreme flooding but also provide cheap hydroelectric power, which is of incredible value to a developing nation.

Pakistan has some dams but clearly not enough. Given these extreme events that led to this catastrophic flooding are increasingly common and that no action in climate change will change this in the short or even medium term, it's time to build dams. Lots of them.

[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals...

its possible we didnt look at the same flood map or i'm looking at it wrong, but the way i read it it says that >5% of the country is flooded. Thats beyond the scope of dams to handle i believe.

dams work well in regions with limited rainfall. The indian subcontinent receives most of its annual rainfall during the monsoon. Periods of 100 mm/hour of rainfall are not uncommon. Annual rainfall numbers in southern asia are often 1000 mm. North america's closest regions with that level of rainfall are all west of the rocky mountains.

Dams are unlikely to help here and pose a serious risk if they break - which they can in a region prone to earthquakes.

Dams destroy ecosystems, reduce biodiversity and often just silt up. A related but far better idea is to encourage water retention on a far bigger scale by building johads or berms everywhere. See the Paani foundation's work in next door India.

We need to airdrop more beavers, clearly.

This might actually not be a bad idea. That being said I think a lot of the environments would be too dry for beavers and not contain enough trees. Or conversely be too alpine.

So basically we need genetically engineered super beavers that are adapted for high altitude mountaineering.

On another note I find it hilarious and also cruel that beavers are apparently absolutely obsessed with stopping the sound of any running water. To the point that if one wanders near your home and can regularly hear water running inside of pipes it drives them crazy.

Using naturally skilled animals to pick up where we humans either fail or deny an issue is something we should seriously consider as a hedge at this point. If we can get extremely rich people even more rich by doing so, we may have a chance at it catching on.

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