You know someplace you never hear mentioned with the likes of Miami or New Orleans? This place.
But right there we were. The glitz and glamor of South Beach. The music and food of the French Quarter. And the lush green hills of this place.
And by this place I mean whatever place you're occupying as you read this. Pikeville, Paintsville, Prestonsburg, Whitesburg, Williamson, Grundy...you get the idea.
Let's just think of the counties those places occupy, all connected by the chain of ridges and hollows known on the outside as central Appalachia. Known on the inside as home.
All those counties were recognized recently alongside Miami and New Orleans as the most flood-prone places in the lower 48 states. Kentucky and West Virginia joined Louisiana and Florida as the states that will be more impacted by climate-caused flooding in the future than any other.
A report called "The 3rd National Risk Assessment: Infrastructure on the Brink" was released by First Street Foundation this month. The purpose of the study was to identify the places whose infrastructure, from roads to water systems to police stations, were most in danger of flooding in the country over the next 30 years.
It's not hard to imagine coastal areas like Miami and New Orleans flooding more as sea levels rise. That's a climate-caused no-brainer. But who'd believe the landlocked mountains would have risks nearly as bad?
I'm going to guess several county emergency management directors in our region would. Over the last twenty years, flash floods due to brief heavy rains have taken out hollows in every county around us. Flood waters have occupied spaces for the first time in recorded history. We've had 1000 year floods on top of 500 year floods.
How many flood events have there been in Pike county alone? How many have we had on New Year's day?
At least we didn't get increased tornados like the other end of the state. I'd rather take my chances with rising water. We can agree climate change is not being kind to our state.
Our increasing rainfall, coming in shorter, heavier bursts, is exacerbated by flattened, rock hard mesas where ridges and peaks that could deal with falling water once were. You can't blow up a million years worth of drainage patterns and expect the water to run where it once did.
The reality is our recent flooding is just a taste of what's in store. Water goes where it wants to. Ever hear of the Breaks of the Big Sandy?
Some of you might have read "climate caused" back there and quit. You don't need those enviro-wackos and their climate change baloney, do you? I say you can ignore them all you want, but insurance companies and FEMA and civil engineers are taking them pretty seriously.
One piece of good news, if there is any, is the infrastructure bill has billions to help places like this place take steps to mitigate the effects of future rain events. You can't really fix an amputation with a band-aid, but at least there's an effort.
That's better than pretending it's not there.