When water recedes in Houston, debate over climate change and flooding must rise

scientists are pointing to climate change as a culprit to explain the expected record 50 inches of rain that might fall in Texas as a result of Hurricane Harvey, and the rising tide of water that is swamping and isolating America’s fourth-most-populous city.

There will be some who will say now is not the time.

Now is a time for humanitarian rescue. Now is a time for prayer.

But as I write from 777 miles away in St. Louis — where many people are still recovering from two major flood events in the past 16 months — the president himself is tweeting about policy.

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So as people drown and die in Houston and Galveston and Corpus Christi, I’ll write about climate change and America’s love affair with bad flooding policy, because if not now, when?