No abstract

Even before the war in Europe ended formally on 8 May 1945, there could be no serious misconceptions—either among defeated and liberated peoples or among the victorious Allied powers—as to how complex the challenges of reconstructing physical infrastructure and social networks would be.1 This was particularly true in urban areas within what had been Germany's 1938 borders, where the impact of air raids had reduced many areas to rubble and had damaged the rail and road connections that supplied foodstuffs and other necessities. In Berlin and other cities, images of people clearing debris from lunar landscapes dominated the popular imagination in the late 1940s and over the following decades. Indeed, when images of immediate postwar reconstruction have been invoked, it would appear as if there existed a heroic, unbroken connection between the initiative of these largely female volunteers (Trümmerfrauen) and the economic miracle associated overwhelmingly with largely male labor in West Germany a decade later. If a remarkable preparedness to come to terms with the exigencies of the present manifested itself during the initial postwar months, historians have subsequently offered insights into how problematic a consistent and thorough confrontation with the Nazi past proved to be during the later 1940s and beyond.

No abstract

No abstract

In the aftermath of flooding disasters, a temptation is to pursue recovery while also dismissing the event as unlikely to recur. Is it possible that underlying streamflow trends, which often avoid detection, help explain individual flooding episodes and should influence future expectations? How do impoundments (dams) affect these trends? Our study provides a comparative analysis to answer these key questions that help determine whether flood planning will be successful. Examining the 25 largest Texas metropolitan areas, we assessed peak flow trends for stream gages having at least 25 years of data. Of 181 total gages, 34 (18.8%) exhibited significant upward trends. Over 85% of those with upward trends are located in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (17.6%) and Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land (67.6%) areas. Approximately 62% of gages with upward trends are in Harris County. Among 84 sites impacted by impoundment, 11 (13.1%) still exhibited upward trends. These findings show that increasing peak flows underlie recent flooding in some areas, spotlighting streams in greatest need of examination. Increasing peak flows in some locations even after impoundment suggest dams might not be a complete solution. Finally, maintaining a robust monitoring network is critical to flood planning, and analysis is hampered when data are lacking. Citation: Berg MD. 2018. Peak flow trends highlight emerging urban flooding hotspots in Texas. Texas Water Journal. 9(1):18-29. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v9i1.7068.