Natural Disasters include weather events we cannot prevent including hurricanes, forest fires, drought, floods, tornados and earth quakes. We have a very expensive “restoration” processes to do land clearing and rebuilding.
We do have ways to prevent Drought and Flooding and prevent Forest Fires from spreading that need to be employed.
Drought
Although the 1930s Dust Bowl Drought is often referred to as if it were one episode, there were at least 4 distinct drought events: 1930–31, 1934, 1936, and 1939–40. These events occurred in such rapid succession that affected regions were not able to recover adequately before another drought began. This period of drought in the 1930s resulted in foreclosures and the loss of “family farms”. Many families migrated to California to find work.
The Dust Bowl era ended primarily due to a combination of the return of regular rainfall in the fall of 1939 and the implementation of new farming techniques and conservation efforts like the planting of shelterbelts.
Conservation Efforts:
Soil Conservation Service (SCS): The government established the Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources Conservation Service) to promote healthy soil management and farming practices.
New Farming Techniques: The SCS promoted practices like crop rotation, no-till farming, and terracing to help retain soil moisture and prevent erosion.
Shelterbelts: The Civilian Conservation Corps planted millions of trees in shelterbelts (windbreaks) to protect farmland from wind erosion.
Government Programs: The government also implemented programs to help farmers struggling with the drought and Dust Bowl conditions, including programs to help them pay mortgages and access aid.
We are not prepared for the next drought. We need to build more dams and lakes to hold snowmelt and river water. We need to prevent river water from being emptied into the oceans. We need more hydro-electric plants. We need to replenish our aquafers.
US Flood Mitigation
We are not prepared for the next flood. New dams and lakes are needed in low areas to divert flood water away from inhabited areas. Storm Drains need to be cleared to accept rain water and need to be enlarged where floods are expected. River cresting needs to be mitigated with storm drains to aquafers and lakes. If we can build pipelines, we can build storm drains.
High Rainfall in April 2025 created flooding in the US as warm air rose from the Gulf through the South. This resulted in a long, right leaning chain of storms entering between Texas and Louisiana that moved West to East through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. It moved North to Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky impacting the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers. Rainfall measured between 10 and 15 inches. By the time the storm hit Georgia, it was thinning out and had little impact. The storm lasted for 4 days. The elevation in North Atlanta is 1100 feet above sea level and this usually weakens the storms that come through.
The areas affected in this flood should consider restricting flood-prone areas to farmland and building lakes and dams. The same farmland needs water irrigation during droughts. Fresh water should not be allowed to empty into salt water areas or in oceans.
Forest Fire Prevention
We have had a “Forest Fire Festival” in California and other Western States for years due to poor Forest Management by Federal and State Government owners. We don’t see this in Eastern States, where most of the Forests are privately owned and do employ good Forest Management. We have also had a “Mud Slide Festival” in California, following the “Forest Fire Festivals”.
Forest Fires are caused by Lightening, Arson, Downed Power Lines and Carelessness. They go out of control because of High Winds, No Monitoring, No Forest Management, No Water and Bad Environmental Laws.
We need a deep buffer zone to separate Forests from high population areas. This buffer zone should be cleaned annually by removing flammable ground cover and expanding water reservoirs.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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