Message in the storm is: ‘We’re going to need a bigger ark’

WASHINGTON - Nobody wants to pick on Texas, or especially Houston, after a 1,000-year weather event that for several days turned the city into a lake and dispossessed thousands of their homes, belongings and, in some cases, loved ones.

The ultimate effects of the storm blandly named Harvey are yet to be fully understood. What is known is that most of the homes destroyed were uninsured for flooding and that U.S. taxpayers will be doing much of the bailing.

Meanwhile, comparisons to Hurricane Katrina 12 years ago are intriguing, if one is fortunate enough to be hugging dry land. Chief among the obvious differences is the death toll. Katrina took close to 2,000 lives. As of Friday, Harvey’s toll was 46, and the figure wasn’t expected to rise significantly.

Numbers matter little to those in mourning, but such comparisons can be instructive. In explaining differences between Katrina and Harvey, most experts naturally examine the weather itself and topography. During Katrina, New Orleans, which is shaped like a bowl, was hardest hit. Flooding from burst levees, as well as the colossal tidal surge driven by winds, essentially filled the bowl.

In Houston during Harvey, the main force of the storm came from the skies, which dropped 9 trillion gallons of water onto the city, the flat topography of which gave residents an obvious advantage over New Orleans. Although cataclysmic over time, Houston’s flooding was less abrupt and gave people more time to find higher ground.

But make no mistake: We are being warned. Storms of the Harvey variety will become not one-in-1,000-year events but one-in-100. And then, well, who knows beyond worse-is-coming? The least we can do is exercise our free will — and our reasoning powers — to mitigate the effects of human activities on global warming to the extent possible.

If we don’t, Mr. President, we’re going to need a bigger ark.

Kathleen Parker’s email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.