Floods: another hurricane risk

 one expects storm surge flooding from hurricanes (and of course typhoons here) but the heavy rains are also a danger.

Sigh.

the heavy rains can cause fast flooding in the mountains, but the real disaster is if a local dam breaks.

The Johnstown flood is a famous disaster in the USA, but a lot of folk don't remember the 1977 flood 

It is the hilly terrain: rolling hills and small valleys where the water collects as it flows out of the hills to the rivers downstream. This terrain results in water pouring into the low areas between the hills mean it is an area prone to flooding...and then there are the dams, which are older and sometimes collapse when stressed by heavy rain and run off from upstream.

PennLive report from last month on trying to protect folks from  floods.

But the area had it's last big flood in 1977: 

 And yes it was caused not just by heavy rains but because the local dams failed:

WIKIPEDIA:On July 19, a deluge of rain hit the Johnstown area during the night. Nearly 12 inches (300 millimetres) of rain fell in 24 hours when a thunderstorm stalled over the region, and six dams in the area over-topped and failed.

it wasn't just Johnstown, but several other small towns who had severe damage and deaths. 

I moved to a small town near there a few years later, and bought a house in the center of town, at the bottom of a slope, and the city garage across the street from my house had a line painted on it about six feet high, saying flood level 1977.

Kuya was living in another town in the area, and he said his family was safe (their house was on high ground) but one of his high school friends father drowned.

sigh

Here in the Philippines, floods are risky, especially to those living near the river. 

Usually the city orders evacuation, and the City Gym up the street is the designated evacuation center for our neighborhood...but we are on high ground so okay. And of course, people often evacuate to the homes of family or friends when there is a typhoon or flood warning.

 The real worry is if the irrigation dams collapse. It is flat here, but Lolo added soil to lift the house 18 inches above street level, and the foundation is another eight inches... so the only time we flooded was when they opened the flood gates of a local dam to prevent it from overtopping. 

When the warnings came out and the streets began to flood, several of our neighbors asked if they could park their cars inside our garage, so we had six cars here: not just in the garage but we opened the doors into the large meeting hall. It did flood six inches into the garage and two inches into our house, but the cars were okay... but it did make a mess of mud inside the garden and our house. And the rice storage was on palates in a back room, and the apartment for the family and the offices with their computers etc are on the second floor so no major damage.

In the video, the man is discussing how neighbors help each other. This is true after any disaster, not just in the USA but here in the Philippines.

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addendum: Trumpieboy visited Johnstown in August.   and VP Harris in September.

Because most workers belong to unions, they tend to be Democrats, but the unemployment and loss of blue collar jobs make Trump's economic promises attractive. Even Fetterman, who comes from western PA knows this but of course has been forced to "correct" his remarks to this effect.