Flooding

When rain comes down in some parts of Charleston, S.C., sewage comes up. In the neighborhood of West Ashley, storms trigger waste overflows so often into a pond near Nell Postell’s home that she has a wet-weather routine based on forecasts: she buys surgical masks, clears her garden and then listens for the sewage to […]

After years of heated debates and delays, the world’s largest dam removal is currently underway on the Klamath River across the California-Oregon border.  Established in the early to mid-1900s by energy company PacifiCorp, the four dams have stored water and generated electricity for the region. But they’ve also prevented endangered salmon from reaching critical habitat […]

COFFEE COUNTY, Ala.—Ronald McKinnon thinks six years is long enough.  Residents of the Shiloh community, the historically Black neighborhood where McKinnon grew up, have faced repeated flooding for six years now—the result of an expanded highway state workers elevated above nearby homes, they have said.  McKinnon grew up in Shiloh, attending nearby Elba High School […]

This project was originally published in Science magazine. The story was supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Pendleton Mazer Family Fund. MANAUS, Brazil—Jochen Schöngart darts back and forth along an escarpment just above the Amazon River, a short water taxi ride from downtown Manaus, Brazil. It’s still early this October morning in 2023, but […]