Skip to content

Nine Die in Georgia Floods - Kanye is a Jackass

2009-10-13 · explainer · Hank · 3:48 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook, on location

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

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

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

00:03:40 — Sign-off

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: 2009 Southeastern United States floods · climate change · Georgia (U.S. state) · human impact on the environment

Also: Georgia River Network · Six Flags Over Georgia

Only in the description or credits: DailyBooth · Kanye West

Also centred on Georgia (U.S. state): October 23rd: Some Explaining to Do…

Also centred on human impact on the environment: October 5th: Feuding, Goonies and Politics · Some Mind-Bending Earth GIFs · What is the Strongest Force on Earth? · Kill All The Humans · The Amazon isn't "Burning" - It's Being Burned

Replies to

Later videos replying to this one

Part of an exchange of 5 videos, 2009-10-11 – 2009-10-25.