Weather Gone Wild: Surviving a World of Superstorms

Made in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, filmmaker Melanie Wood's documentary examines the spate of violent rainstorms and floods that have lately spawned in the wake of rising global temperatures. The most recent news-footage-rich storms get the spotlight, especially the 2013 flooding in Calgary and Tropical Storm Sandy battering the New York/New Jersey coastline, which racked up billions of dollars in damage. Potential ways to ameliorate the impact of superstorms are addressed here, including home construction that takes basement flooding into consideration (or, in the case of the Dutch, building floating homes atop the water), giant mechanical river-control systems, and "granular resilience" offshore barriers. Moral: extreme weather is now an omnipresent fact of life, and both policy and urban design must adapt or else. A sobering documentary about the challenges of extreme weather that also offers a handful of responsive strategies, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)