Helen Jackson @hjcksn@qoto.org

The project used two distinct NLP techniques. Text classification was used to detect potential urban flash flood events from articles and distinguish them from other types of flooding. Named Entity Recognition was used to extract the names of places, streets, buildings, etc.

Why do this? We have little historic data on surface water flooding. As far as I'm aware, this is the first attempt to create a detailed geospatial dataset for these events. Such data has potential applications in validating flood forecasts and models, as well as planning.

The outputs of the Urban Flash Flooding in England project are now available via the @climatenodeuk website. The project used #NLP to analyse 17000+ articles from ~300 websites to detect events and map flood impacts for 56 key dates since 2010.
https://www.climatenode.org/maps/about_UFF_maps.html

If, like me, you were wondering why there has been such a notable absence of named storms this winter in the UK here's an explainer
https://theconversation.com/why-the-uk-has-only-had-one-named-storm-so-far-this-winter-an-expert-explains-200364

Auckland's ‘infrastructure and planning shortcomings were exposed in the flood disaster’; investigation follows
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-floods-auckland-council-sets-up-investigation-into-impact-on-infrastructure-and-planning-issues/2C36554GLFFEBJ4CVRL322ASVU/

New paper sets out where people are exposed to glacial lake outburst floods globally
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36033-x

Few days late tweeting this, but ...
new analysis of the UK’s adaptation investment priorities from the Climate Change Committee with warning:
"A lack of leadership is preventing essential investment to prepare the UK for climate change"
https://www.theccc.org.uk/2023/02/01/a-lack-of-leadership-is-preventing-essential-investment-to-prepare-the-uk-for-climate-change/

Allegations of partisan allocation of bushfire recovery funding in New South Wales
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/bushfire-grants-report-sent-to-corruption-watchdog-20230203-p5chtm.html

Uptick in English sewage overspills due to infrastructure not keeping up with demand, says Imperial College research
"This analysis shows the capacity of many WWTWs is not sufficient, even in the absence of extreme rainfall."
Suggests adaptation needs to happen on top of chronic under-capacity.
https://phys.org/news/2023-01-sewage-overspills-result-lack-infrastructure.html

A lecturer on urban planning in at the University of Auckland comments on how to prepare for similar events in future
https://theconversation.com/auckland-floods-even-stormwater-reform-wont-be-enough-we-need-a-sponge-city-to-avoid-future-disasters-198736

Airport flooded and schools closed for a week after Auckland experiences its wettest day on record
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-64449248

After 700 municipalities experienced water supply problems in 2022, France launches national water-saving plan
https://www.modernghana.com/news/1207870/france-rolls-out-five-year-anti-drought-plan.html

Town in Heilongjiang breaks Chinese low temperature record – possibly
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-64378176

Louisiana is experiencing a property insurance crisis following recent disasters, with the Governor trying to lure insurers after at least a dozen quit the state
https://apnews.com/article/john-bel-edwards-louisiana-business-370b75f7467429e9728fc926c4ea7290

Indonesia may lose dozens of islands due to sea level rise, which has implications for its Exclusive Economic Zone
https://theconversation.com/sea-level-rise-may-threaten-indonesias-status-as-an-archipelagic-country-195217

Increases in rainfall driving rising water levels in Kenyan endorheic lakes, says new study
https://theconversation.com/kenyas-rift-valley-lakes-are-rising-putting-thousands-at-risk-we-now-know-why-194541

Recent waning snowpack in the Alps is unprecedented in the last six centuries, says new paper
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01575-3

Lives at risk due to hammering to health services from flooding 10 months ago in Lismore NSW, say doctors
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-19/doctors-lismore-floods-health-services-lack-government-support/101787126

UK Govt Resilience Framework out today, promising overhaul of the crisis management and resilience capabilities within the UK Government
https://t.co/OeV2imZ34w

The most expensive project ever recommended by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has just been authorised – $34bn to prevent storm surge damage to Texan coastal industry, including gates to stop storm surge entering Galveston Bay & the Houston Ship Channel