Osaka Kansai flooded and now closed
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at 06:13 by Tom Otley.
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Alex McWhirterParticipantOsaka’s main Kansai international airport has been closed.
The airport is flooded and the situation has worsened owing to a ship colliding with the bridge linking the airport with the mainland.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180904/p2g/00m/0dm/065000c
4 Sep 2018
at 12:17
Alex McWhirterParticipantStranded passengers had to be evacuated by boat.
It is reported that Osaka Kansai may remain closed for a week.
5 Sep 2018
at 10:35
jjlasneParticipantWell, it is built on landfill, it is sinking thanks to the pounding by thousand ton aircraft and waters are rising thanks to global warming. Henceforth, that very expensive airport should not be around very long unless they replace the aircraft with seaplanes…
6 Sep 2018
at 19:32
Tom OtleyKeymasterAll true, but many other airports are built on landfill as well
Many Major Airports Are Near Sea Level. A Disaster in Japan Shows What Can Go Wrong.
What Kansai airport flooding can teach Hong Kong about the perils of reclamation amid climate change
Martin Williams says the disaster wrought by Typhoon Jebi in Japan should sound a warning to those planning reclamation in East Lantau, who do not account for the rise in sea levels or the increased intensity of typhoons that climate change could bring.1 user thanked author for this post.
10 Sep 2018
at 21:32
AnthonyDunnParticipantTom, it’s been well reported but when Osaka Kansai was built, they built it directly on top of the existing sea bed. That was mud, which compresses and as soon as it was built on, it started to compress and thus sink.
When HKG was built, the mud was literally scraped off the sea bed until the constructors reached hard rock. I remember, when working for the HK Government in 1994 walking around the scraped sea bed prior to infilling with the rock blasted from the adjoining mountain that was then flattened. I also recall the ridiculous racket from the Beijing government that the colonial administration was “attempting to empty the coffers in advance of the handover…”
Interestingly, the last time I was passing through HKIA, the exhibition about the planned third runway did not require a repeat sea bed scraping but the installation of piers into the sea bed and building atop of these.
11 Sep 2018
at 18:03
Tom OtleyKeymasterThank you, that’s very interesting.
I suppose the larger point is that so many of these airports are vulnerable to storm surges or rising sea levels. I remember that map of Manhattan before land reclamation, and then what happened in the floods…
Manhattan’s original coastline revealed when Hurricane Sandy flooded land reclaimed over 400 years
How Hurricane Sandy flooded New York back to its 17th century shape as it inundated 400 years of reclaimed land
12 Sep 2018
at 04:50
Tom OtleyKeymasterA follow up article in the Architectural Digest
Unlikely Victims of Climate Change Include Major International Airports
A staggering number of major airports are located in low-lying areas near water, posing a significant risk from rising sea temperatures and the superstorms they fuel
19 Sep 2018
at 06:13 -
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