Get the latest Science News and Discoveries

18x more floods, 105% bigger storms — all from a single clear-cut

Clear-cutting forests doesn’t just raise flood risk — it can supercharge it. UBC researchers found that in certain watersheds, floods became up to 18 times more frequent and over twice as severe after clear-cutting, with these effects lasting more than four decades. The surprise? Terrain details like which direction a slope faces played a huge role in flood behavior. Conventional models miss these dynamics, which could mean we've been underestimating the danger for decades — especially as climate change accelerates extreme weather.

None

Get the Android app