While flash flooding does make headlines in DC—like the dog daycare center in Northeast that flooded in August 2023 leaving 10 dogs dead—we don’t as often hear about how chronic flooding is increasingly problematic for certain District residents. This week, Hola Cultura Assistant Editor and investigative journalist Marcelo Jauregui-Volpe walks us through what he uncovered about the disproportionate impact flooding is having on poorer DC communities, stories of individuals being hardest hit, how climate change is exacerbating the problem, and the solutions that are bringing the most hope.

You can find Marcelo on LinkedIn and learn more about Hola Cultura here. You can also catch Marcelo hosting Hola Cultura’s podcast, “The Climate Divide,” which examines DC’s heat islands and related health disparities along racial, ethnic and class lines.

Resources:

• The Hidden Costs of Flooding in D.C.’s Poorest Wards | Pulitzer Center (by Marcelo Jauregui-Volpe)
• DC Flood Task Force
• Other Hola Cultura investigative reporting:
  • Development is wiping out trees in less-affluent parts of Washington, DC, putting residents’ health at risk, grantee finds - The Fund for Investigative Journalism
  • Investigative Series: D.C.’s Heat Islands / Serie: Islas De Calor En D.C. | Hola Cultura