I places in Asia that have monsoon weather one typically walks UP a few steps before going down into a subway station (China/Taiwan/Hong Kong/etc)- for example this MTR entrance in Hong Kong:
This is a great solution to short term small floods, but wont protect you against longer term, or waist deep+ street flooding like we saw in Henan last week.
I’ve lived in Hong Kong for close to 10 years, and I never even thought about why almost every MTR entrance has a couple of steps up, only to go back down.
Yeah, thanks, I was actually looking for a pic of my favourite Shenzhen Science Museum entrance that has maybe 6 steps (and is a real pain to drag a suitcase up)
Warsaw (Poland) uses the bulkheads which were designed originally during the cold war era to provide an atomic shelter for the civilians. Fortunately, they weren't ever used for the original purpose, but they are now used as a prevention during the storms.
The Zhengzhou metro, one which got flooded, has blast doors in, and in between stations like most metros in the Bloc.
The anger now is because despite millions spent on those blast doors, they were simply not activated. The shift chief of the metro was too afraid to stop the metro.
The same for its very powerful flood defence pumps.
Reminds me of a documentary on the flood gates at the Port of Rotterdam. They are operated automatically, humans cannot trigger them (if memory serves well). Reasoning was, that operators live nearby and might tend to close them too soon and too often. Now you have to trust the system to have a proper balance between keeping the port open and protecting communities. Up to now the Rotterdam system seems to work reasonably well so.
I don't have a source for their statement specific to the doors, but here are some videos that capture how horrific events are unfolding in China the last few days. [1] I suspect finding documented sources of mishaps will be tricky as they will likely be moderated [2] once found.
Newer systems being built in Asia are avoiding subways/underground systems and preferring elevated systems. In fact during a major flood, the elevated railway was pretty much the only servicing transporting system in effect.
The trains aren't ugly, the concrete infrastructure is. (Note that elevated trains in the US often look much nicer because they use steel structures, something that isn't being built today).
Not only subways, but when I was in Vietnam, a lot of the new highways around HCMC/Mekong Delta were all elevated for their entire length despite the landscape being flat. I assume to completely eliminate any flooding issues.
Ask a New Yorker, and the NYC subway is the greatest in the world (oh and PATH is not part of the subway system, cuz it's not MTA and goes to New Jersey).
Also, NYC itself is the greatest city on the world. ;-)
Not sure about biggest but I will say NY subway is far more complex than Tokyo's and I'm a native English speaker and speak no Japanese.
Getting to the correct train in Tokyo was far easier, likely because there was less rerouting than what seems like perpetual issues in NY's subway due to aging infrastructure.
I’d echo this sentiment. I’ve spent a good amount of time in Tokyo (I don’t speak Japanese either, beyond simple “I am lost” and “where is the toilet” phrases), and for whatever reason I do find Tokyo’s trains easier to handle than New York’s. I can get around New York on my own without a map but that’s just because of brute force memorization and getting off at the wrong stop enough times.
The NASA study is about flooding at high tide, not just the mean sea level. If you look closely at the graph in your source, you'll notice that the "monthly mean sea level with the average seasonal cycle removed" curve has a lot of variance. Now add monthly and seasonal cycles back in...
We can't change the past so have decades to centuries of climate change to handle, but we can do a lot more to stop future contributions to climate change.
The biggest effect anyone can have, beyond fewer kids, less meat, and flying less, is learning to lead others, which multiplies our effects. Of course, to lead others we have to lead ourselves first, which means fewer kids, less meat, flying less, and all those, as means to the end of leading others, especially CEOs and elected officials.
I thought the walls were the major variable and relatedly how well the earth blocks water in addition to well the local presence. The cost of any street opening subway is needing some pumping as even if you have over-awnings gravity brings rainwater down and it is rare that a city large enough a subway makes sense is away from bodies of water.
https://goo.gl/maps/MeiQU9HAKo5NgFAKA
This is a great solution to short term small floods, but wont protect you against longer term, or waist deep+ street flooding like we saw in Henan last week.