MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota has created a planning tool to help determine which communities in the Twin Cities area are at risk of flooding and extreme heat.
The Metropolitan Council released the Climate Vulnerability Assessment tool to show cities how land will respond to the state getting hotter and having more heavy rain events, Minnesota Public Radio reported.
“We’ve actually built our infrastructure for a historic climate that doesn’t exist anymore,” said Met Council senior planner Eric Wojchik. “Most of our infrastructure was designed and built based off, really, precipitation measures from the 1970s.”
Many cities are already seeing the effects of climate change on their infrastructure, he said.
“It is becoming more and more of an issue as cities plan for their future,” Wojchik said.
Cities must consider how paved areas retain heat longer, buildings block wind that prevents hot air from cooling, and cars and other machines also create heat, the council said. In order to mitigate the head island effect, cities need to see where warm areas are.
The tool features heat data from a land surface temperature snapshot taken in July 2016. Cities can view hot spots to inform development decisions, such as where to plant more trees to increase shade cover, the council said.
The tool also has flooding information based on topographical data from LiDAR, a remote sensing program. Wojchik said it’s similar to terrain analysis.
Cities can see which areas have a higher risk for flooding and consider adding rain gardens, storm drains or other infrastructure improvements, the council said.
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Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, http://www.mprnews.org
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