Why don’t our cities cope with heavy rain?

It’s officially the first day or summer but you wouldn’t know it in Victoria as the state braces itself for a deluge of rain.  Although this opening of the heavens might be giving your plants a good water, extreme rainfall events can actually cause major flooding, car accidents, property damage and even loss of life. And we know that as our climate changes we’ll see more severe storms and rain events and lengthier droughts.

As heavy rain hits, how do our cities deal with it?

While our research can’t prevent extreme events from happening, it can help protect people from their effects.

“Planning cities to cope with extreme rainfall events is critically important to minimise property loss, reduce danger to lives, and reduce any negative effects on the natural environment, especially waterways,” said Dr Simon Toze from our Adaptive Liveable Cities team.

Our research, based on water and future resilient cities, includes finding environmental-friendly solutions for long-term sustainability and water supply, preventing contaminants, as well as reducing discharge of water and wastewater while protecting human health.

Read the CSIROscope story by Amy Edwards - “Why don’t our cities cope with heavy rain?”