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Nine Die in Georgia Floods - Kanye is a Jackass

2009-10-13 · Hank · watch on YouTube · Science & nature · news analysis

Filming a flooded river in Georgia after years of drought, Hank relays what river experts told him: climate change is making weather go haywire, and paving keeps rain out of the groundwater, worsening both floods and droughts.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; John's flooded basement vs. Georgia's floods after a three-year drought; the national news missed it for something more 'important'

  • ★★ Hank, in Georgia, says that just as John's basement flooded (as in John's last video), the whole state of Georgia has flooded too. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank says Georgia has had a catastrophic drought for three years, the kind where people can't shower, and now has giant floods. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank says the floods killed nine people, left Six Flags entirely underwater, flooded whole interstates and had people swimming out of their cars. — 00:00:34
  • ★★ Hank sarcastically says he missed the flood news because some supposedly bigger national story (per the title and description, Kanye West) overshadowed it. (satire) (hedged) — 00:00:34

00:00:58 — On location at a raging river; two rainless summer months; is this normal? Hank asks friends who know Georgia rivers

  • ★★ Hank films a raging, scary river as rain falls again in Georgia, less heavy than in the last flood. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Hank says this summer, usually very rainy in the southeast, Georgia went two months without precipitation. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Hank is staying with friends who know Georgia's rivers: a man who has surveyed almost all of them and a woman working for the nonprofit Georgia River Network. — 00:01:25

00:01:54 — First cause: climate change makes weather go haywire; summer drought in the southeast kills trees and changes the ecosystem

  • ★★ Hank says the answer of his river-expert hosts surprised him and is more complicated than he thought: two things are going on. — 00:01:54
  • ★★★ Relaying his hosts' answer, Hank says climate change is making weather go haywire, so places like the southeast that usually get summer rain get none. — 00:01:54 · climate change

00:02:23 — Second cause: Georgia is paved, so rain runs straight to rivers and the ocean instead of groundwater; urban water shortages; jab at John

  • ★★ Hank says summer drought kills trees that need lots of water, and when they die the whole ecosystem of the southeast changes. — 00:02:23 · climate change
  • ★★★ Hank says climate change means much more change than just the climate: 'global everything changes', so get ready. — 00:02:23 · climate change > «Climate change is like global everything changes.»
  • ★★★ Hank says Georgia is heavily paved, and impermeable surfaces like houses, roads and driveways cause both more flooding and more drought. — 00:02:23
  • ★★★ Hank explains that rain on paved ground shoots straight into rivers and the ocean instead of soaking into groundwater, so rivers spike in floods and drop as fast. — 00:02:23
  • ★★ Hank says this is a huge reason urban areas find it ever harder to have enough water for their populations. — 00:03:11

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