Category: Savannah

Stories related to Savannah and Georgia, where I currently live

Categories
Climate Change Diversity Government Savannah

Savannah’s Springfield Canal stormwater project likely casualty of Trump cuts

White House 404 page for what used to be the web site for the Justice40 Initiative
No one home

Trump’s first action on becoming President was a wholesale revocation of several Biden Executive Office actions, leading to closure of many vital programs. One of these programs is called the Justice40 initiative.

For the first time in our nation’s history, the Federal government has made it a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

By killing the Executive Order that created this initiative, Trump has likely also killed all FEMA funding for a Savannah project to manage stormwater flooding in the Springfield Canal area.

The Justice40 Initiative was a way of allocating resources to historically underserved communities, such as the Carver Village and Cloverdale neighborhoods near the Canal. It wasn’t race-based and in fact made a point of excluding race in its criteria. However, it is a fact that many of the underserved communities in this country are made up of people of color. And because the majority of communities of people of color will benefit, the funding is targeted. The existence of “DEI” is the excuse, but really it is withholding funds that don’t benefit majority white people.

Currently, freezing of these funds is being held up by a court order, though the enforcement of the order is hit and miss. However, because of the association of the funds with environmental justice (“DEI”), and climate change, there’s a strong likelihood the funding will be lost.

It’s difficult to discern from the state of chaos currently in effect in the government, but the funding for the Basin flood control may already have been rescinded.

The state of Georgia, being Republican-led, didn’t join with the other states who have sued the Trump administration to ensure that funding that is promised is delivered. And the states lawsuit court order only extends to the Democrat-led states who filed the complaint However, thankfully,  nonprofits also sued to stop the funding freeze, and this may protect the funding for the project. For now.

If the funding is terminated, Savannah will likely have to sue directly to attempt to enforce the previously approved support, or perhaps get funding from the state of Georgia, instead.

Or wait another four years for a different President.

 

 

 

Categories
Government Savannah Weather

Project 2025 and Tropical Cyclone Debby

Flooded neighborhood with water, calm and glassy on the road, trees on either side
Flooded Chief of Love Road

(source links following)

Just when I started going through the Department of Homeland Security section of Project 2025, tropical cyclone Debby hit Georgia. And it hit Georgia hard.

Areas along the coast and even inland that have never flooded before, flooded. Storm water systems failed to handle the amount of rain that fell, storm water lagoons overflowed, and sewer lift stations were overrun resulting in raw sewage spills in several areas. Roadways were flooded, or complete destroyed when earthen dams failed. Entire neighborhoods in Chatham, Bryan, Liberty, Effingham, Bulloch, and other counties watched the water creep up; sometimes it stopped, sometimes it didn’t.

Currently, FEMA is working with GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Agency), assessing the damage and determining whether a Major Disaster declaration is warranted for the state and impacted counties. Some folk thinks this means calling our Congressional reps or the governor or other persons of power and telling them to declare a disaster so we can get on with our lives.

It doesn’t work that way.

Continue reading “Project 2025 and Tropical Cyclone Debby”
Categories
Savannah Weather

Debby does the neighborhood

Flooded neighborhood with water, calm and glassy on the road, trees on either side
Flooded Chief of Love Road

This morning, at the crack of dawn, I braved the heat and humidity to walk down to see the flooding on Chief of Love Road.

A police car blocked one lane into the road, but folks could get around it to reach the non-flooded homes. However, cars were parked over the sidewalks in order to protect them from the water. They could be from the cut off Teal Lake area.

The entrance to Teal Lake, isolated because of the flood.
I suspect the subdivision being cut off flooding is going to put a crimp into home sales

Or from the Fords Pointe townhouses, still accessible, but with flooded streets.

Flooded town home complex streets.
Fords Pointe with flooded streets
Town houses from the back, with flood waters very close
Back of the town houses, with very close flood waters

Our subdivision isn’t at risk because we’re at an elevation above the area. According to FEMA, we have zero chance of flooding. But after seeing how much of the area is flooded based on 8 inches of rain, and knowing that thanks to climate change, future hurricanes will drop more rain, I’m no longer so confident about our safety.

Thankfully, the Ogeechee river is starting to go down. Slowly. But homes have been flooded, so normalcy is a ways into the future.

And peak hurricane season for us isn’t until September.

Categories
Climate Change Savannah Weather

Flood city

A flooded Highway 17, completely closed off
Highway 17 from Chatham county into Bryan.

The Ogeechee river still hasn’t fully crested yet in the Savannah area. All the roads around my home are now closed, either completely or to thru traffic. We’re not at risk of flooding, but others aren’t as lucky.

River records were broken in Ellabell and Richmond Hill. And this with us getting only about 10 inches of rain from tropical storm Debby, instead of the 20 or more originally predicted.

Climate change isn’t creating more hurricanes, but the ones we get last longer and drop more rain. Debby is only the beginning, I hate to think what will happen when that 20 inches of rain comes.

Add to this, the leaders in our area and their very poor planning. They sacrifice all in the name of growth. They’re allowing development on wetlands and into marshes. The wetlands are nature’s sponges; they help control how much water floods the streets and how quickly it flows into the river.

The new developments have these little stormwater lagoons that are supposed to take the place of the wetlands. Well, as we found out this week: they failed.

The hurried and excessive development is putting stress on infrastructure, including road access and stormwater management. And all they’re doing now, is starting a study to see how to fix it. A study.

By allowing this uncontrolled growth, more homes will be put at risk, and we’ll be dealing with increased river and stormwater flooding at the same time climate change is raining sea levels and increasing rainfall during tropical cyclones.

Flood insurance. We’re supposed to be completely out of any risk zone, but I’m not sure I can bank on this assumption now.

Categories
Savannah Weather

And Debby is still coming to town

NOAA's rain chance graphic, showing most rain going into South Carolina just north of Savannah
Latest NOAA rain map

Previous places I’ve lived have had emergencies that come up quickly and are usually over quickly. I’ve lived through a major ice storm in Grande Isle, Vermont, earthquakes in Washington and California, blizzards in Washington and Massachusetts, even Mount St. Helens, in Yakima, Washington.

A hurricane, though, is a different beastie. It’s like living in the land of giants and seeing a big ole shoe coming at you, and you can’t get out of the way. You’re waiting and watching. Waiting and watching.

We’re experiencing the impact of outer bands of Debby, which means periods of gusty winds, heavy rain, even a tornado watch, interspersed with periods of calm. Tonight and into tomorrow is when the real fun will start.

According to both Enki and NOAA, though we could get upwards of 15 inches of rain, the worst of the rain will likely occur in South Carolina. I’m sorry for our neighbors, but it’s not our fault and forgive us for being relieved. HOWEVER, not all of the models agree with this. Both the GFS and the ECMWF still show the major rain impact in our area.

(Edit: the GFS has since reversed itself, so the NOAA map seems more accurate all the time.)

Regardless, we’re going to get flooding rains. We already have a major river flood alert, and Savannah has put out warnings for so many roads that will flood that it’s just plain idiotic to drive tomorrow unless you must.

One of the bigger problems is community communication and its reliance on social media apps like X-witter, is not working well, and I’ll have more on this later this week. In the meantime, I’m just going to be sitting here, watching that shoe coming down.