Urban Runoff

You see it every time there’s a heavy rainfall: torrents of water running down streets, large lake-like “puddles” pooling in the middle of roads, flooding streets. Sometimes it doesn’t even take that much rain to produce these things.

The reason we see these each time we get a storm is due to the concrete jungle.

Typically, when rain falls, most of it is absorbed into the ground. During heavy rains, some water won’t be absorbed, but will be carried away above ground to areas where it will be absorbed.

This animation by Chris MacDougall and infographic (by Leo Kavanagh and Babak Najafi) explain how urbanization can lead to flooding.