The Urban Umbrella: Street Trees Stem Flash-flooding; London, England

The Urban Umbrella: Street Trees Stem Flash-flooding:
As the Xynthia storm batters Europe and southern England, recent studies compiled by the urban tree charity Trees for Cities have been finding that even the familiar London plane is protecting us from flooding more than previously thought.

The urban umbrella

City trees work in two ways: intercepting water at the canopy, and absorbing surface water through their roots. Rainwater is drawn up through the tree in the process of transpiration and it is eventually lost to the atmosphere through stomata on the underside of the leaves.