**As the climate warms, Copenhagen is likely to see more torrential rain storms like the one that inundated the city in 2011. Since then, the Danish capital has taken action, redesigning parks and streets to quickly drain away vast amounts of water.**
It’s shortly after 1 p.m. on a gray, Wednesday afternoon as Ditte Juul Sørensen, standing in a park in southern Copenhagen, talks about how she intends to flood the dog park should it become necessary. The green area used to consist merely of a sodden meadow, a decrepit playground and a couple of dirt paths. But over the last seven years, the 46-year-old landscape architect has completely transformed it.
Today, it marks the end of an invisible river that winds its way through Copenhagen, designed to save the city in the event of torrential rainfall.
“The meadow will collect the water,” says Sørensen, “and this artificially created riverbed will lead it onward.” She points to a red-and-yellow paved pathway leading back to the petting zoo. In total, the invisible catchment area can hold 15,000 cubic meters of water, roughly the equivalent of 83,000 bathtubs filled to the brim.
The park is one of the endpoints of an extensive network of above-ground and underground canals, green spaces, specially adapted roads and catchment ponds. The Skybrudsplan, or Cloudburst Management Plan, cost 1.8 billion euros and it is designed to protect the city from episodes of severe rainfall for the next 100 years.
Extreme weather events struck all over Europe this summer, and they are likely to become even more common in the future as global warming advances. Some parts of the continent had to face heatwaves, fires and drought, others were struck by unpredictable storms. The Danish capital, for its part, is among those places threatened by torrential rains and flooding. In July, Denmark saw twice as much rain as normal – more than ever seen for the month in the last 149 years.
For many, it was reminiscent of 2011, the year the city went through something of a collective trauma, a moment of chaos that can be seen in hindsight as a wake-up call. On the evening of July 2 that year, two-months worth of rain poured out of the sky within just a few hours. Tens of thousands of people found themselves without power, the university hospital’s trauma center had to be evacuated, parts of the historic citadel even collapsed and broken district heating pipes resulted in a number of scalding victims. The police department’s telephone system was out of order for three days, while the World Health Organization had to close down its European headquarters and the Tivoli Gardens amusement park was evacuated.
Afterwards, dead rats floated through the streets. According to one study, 22 percent of workers surveyed fell ill during the weeks of cleanup that followed. One man even died of an infection. Prisoners had to be fed with McDonald’s food because the kitchens were destroyed. In Copenhagen alone, the damage was estimated at 800 million euros.
The city reacted with resolve. Not even a year passed before Copenhagen passed its first Skybrudsplan. Since then, the concept has been further developed each year, with construction planned to continue until at least 2035.
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**As the climate warms, Copenhagen is likely to see more torrential rain storms like the one that inundated the city in 2011. Since then, the Danish capital has taken action, redesigning parks and streets to quickly drain away vast amounts of water.**
It’s shortly after 1 p.m. on a gray, Wednesday afternoon as Ditte Juul Sørensen, standing in a park in southern Copenhagen, talks about how she intends to flood the dog park should it become necessary. The green area used to consist merely of a sodden meadow, a decrepit playground and a couple of dirt paths. But over the last seven years, the 46-year-old landscape architect has completely transformed it.
Today, it marks the end of an invisible river that winds its way through Copenhagen, designed to save the city in the event of torrential rainfall.
“The meadow will collect the water,” says Sørensen, “and this artificially created riverbed will lead it onward.” She points to a red-and-yellow paved pathway leading back to the petting zoo. In total, the invisible catchment area can hold 15,000 cubic meters of water, roughly the equivalent of 83,000 bathtubs filled to the brim.
The park is one of the endpoints of an extensive network of above-ground and underground canals, green spaces, specially adapted roads and catchment ponds. The Skybrudsplan, or Cloudburst Management Plan, cost 1.8 billion euros and it is designed to protect the city from episodes of severe rainfall for the next 100 years.
Extreme weather events struck all over Europe this summer, and they are likely to become even more common in the future as global warming advances. Some parts of the continent had to face heatwaves, fires and drought, others were struck by unpredictable storms. The Danish capital, for its part, is among those places threatened by torrential rains and flooding. In July, Denmark saw twice as much rain as normal – more than ever seen for the month in the last 149 years.
For many, it was reminiscent of 2011, the year the city went through something of a collective trauma, a moment of chaos that can be seen in hindsight as a wake-up call. On the evening of July 2 that year, two-months worth of rain poured out of the sky within just a few hours. Tens of thousands of people found themselves without power, the university hospital’s trauma center had to be evacuated, parts of the historic citadel even collapsed and broken district heating pipes resulted in a number of scalding victims. The police department’s telephone system was out of order for three days, while the World Health Organization had to close down its European headquarters and the Tivoli Gardens amusement park was evacuated.
Afterwards, dead rats floated through the streets. According to one study, 22 percent of workers surveyed fell ill during the weeks of cleanup that followed. One man even died of an infection. Prisoners had to be fed with McDonald’s food because the kitchens were destroyed. In Copenhagen alone, the damage was estimated at 800 million euros.
The city reacted with resolve. Not even a year passed before Copenhagen passed its first Skybrudsplan. Since then, the concept has been further developed each year, with construction planned to continue until at least 2035.
This is so interesting. Thank you.