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Over the past decades many scientists have recorded an increase in torrential rainstorms, affecting densely populated areas, causing a lot of damage and sometimes even deaths.
Experts claim that we should ‘plan in’ more greenery into our city environments and plant new forests, replacing those felled and cleared for business purposes.
This would help to prevent catastrophic rain water run-off and, in urban environments, reduce reflected heat on blistering hot summer days.
Temperatures reached in summer are sometimes 10 degrees Celsius higher in ‘concrete down-towns‘ than in the countryside.
Elderly people are also known to be at a higher risk from suffering heart attacks, by as much as 10 percent, when the temperature soars in urban man made ‘ heat sinks ‘.
WORDS
blockhead: a stupid person.
densely: with a lot of things close to each other.
to fell: to cut down a tree.
blistering: (of sunlight) very strong, intense.
to soar: to go up quickly.
heat sink: a device for absorbing excessive heat.
