The 9 inches of rain that usually fall during a stretch of a few months in Manhattan, Kansas, came down last week in just a few hours. Wildcat Creek crested nearly 26 feet above the stream bed, and 300 people had to be evacuated, about half of them by boat.
The disaster definitely qualified as a 500-year flood a watery washout that has a 1-in-500 chance of occurring in any given year.
Only, we know that such severe weather events are becoming much more common all over the world: Last years Hurricane Harvey was the third 500-year flood in the Houston area in three years.…
Climate change hits urban areas hardest
