Flooding will become more severe and more frequent as the impact of global warming continues, the International Panel on Climate Change has warned.
Ireland as an island – with all of its major cities built on the coast – will be vulnerable.
A UCD scientist is asking people in Dublin to help the city prepare for future floods by setting up weather stations.
Francesco Pilla, an Associate Professor of Smart Cities and Urban Environment at the university, has used funding from the EU Operandum project to buy 100 weather stations.
Mr Pilla is appealing for schools, businesses and residents to use them to gather local rainfall data.
While the Office for Public Works has already mapped the flood risk for most of the country and millions have been spent on flood defence schemes, Mr Pilla says gathering the new data is still of value.
“We collect climatic data and soil moisture data at a very localised scale,” he said.
“So, we see the impact that local land use has on flood risk, but also we engage with citizens in doing so, so we make them aware of the problem and we make them part of the solution.”
The Educate Together Primary School in Harold’s Cross is one of the schools which has set up a weather station. Teacher Rachel Brennan say it is of benefit to the students.
“It’s really important for them to see their impact on the environment and how the environment can help them and how they can help the environment,” Ms Brennan said.
The recent IPCC report on the impacts of global warming warned against “maladaptation” – or badly-designed measures – which can actually make the impacts of events like flooding worse.
It counsels that nature-based solutions often produce the best results. That is something the students at Harolds Cross are already learning, as they plant their garden with flowers that help soak up the rain.
Mr Pilla says there has been a great response to his call for people to instal weather stations and he may have to go out to buy more.
As Dublin’s exposure to flooding increases because of extreme weather events and rising sea levels, the data gathered may help the city to reduce its vulnerability.
