As Hurricane Irma lashes Florida, an expert explains how cities can boost their flood defenses
By Joseph Hincks
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"Severe incidents of flooding are increasing worldwide, "says Piet Dircke, global program director for water management at consultancy firm Arcadis. "That is due to a combination of climate change, land subsidence, sea-level rise, and urbanization."
A former professor of urban water management at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Dircke has reviewed the flood safety master plans in the Netherlands and Jakarta, and prepared coastal resilience and water resource plans for Bangkok, the Indonesian city of Semarang and Myanmar. He has worked on flood remediation projects in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and New York City after Hurricane Sandy, among others.
TIME caught up with Dircke in Hong Kong Thursday to learn about what cities around the world can do to better brace against storms hitting with increasing frequency and intensity.
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