Finnish capital prepares for crisis weather

Following a wave of extreme weather that has hit Scandinavia, residents of the Finnish capital of Helsinki have been told to prepare for more floods, downpours and sustained heatwaves caused by the climate crisis.

Project Manager of the City of Helsinki’s Climate Division, Kajsa Rosqvist said the City had drafted a plan for adapting to the climate crisis, placing particular emphasis on the storm waters that linger on streets after downpours.

Ms Rosqvist pointed out that while new residential areas on the outskirts of the city had separate pipes for storm and waste water, downtown areas were more vulnerable to heavy rains because of their joint pipe systems and the amount of land covered in asphalt.

“The greatest flood risk is in downtown areas because the piping capacity doesn’t suffice to control the masses of water,” Ms Rosqvist said.

The City Council is expected to finalise the first version of its plan for responding to heavy rains later in the year.

It also has a storm-water strategy based on the principle that the waters are dealt with where they occur rather than channelled to other parts of the city.

“The waters should be either absorbed by the soil and vegetation or, at the very least, their flow should be slowed down so that floods do not occur in bottleneck locations,” Ms Rosqvist said.

“Due to the high cost of replacing old pipe systems, greenery will have a key role in preventing future floods." 

She said Helsinki was in a fairly good position compared to other cities in Europe, "given that it has about 200,000 trees in parks and 30,000 along roads in addition to its forested areas”.

The City Council is evaluating the effectiveness of green areas for preventing floods by transforming 17 parking spots into green squares in neighbourhoods that have less open areas.

However, this is challenging due to the space requirements of roots on the one hand and underground cables, pipes and other infrastructure on the other.

“At the same time, we know that trees do the best job at absorbing water, delaying the flow of storm waters, provide shade and cooling the air through evaporation,” Ms Rosqvist said.

“I’d say that we’re in a hurry and need more resources. Luckily discussion on the topic has increased in recent times, and I’m hopeful we can make progress even quite quickly.”