The Brief

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Sometimes, a single storm can change a city. For Copenhagen, that storm hit on July 2, 2011.

"It was over 100 millimeters of rain in a couple of hours. It fell directly on the city of Copenhagen," recalls Mark Payne, a climate researcher at the Danish Meteorological Institute.

Sewers overflowed, and the streets filled with raw sewage, causing more than $1 billion in damage to property. Video from the weather event shows city streets transformed into waterways and passing city buses generating waves that broke against storefronts, while the rain persisted, relentless and torrential.

In July 2011, Copenhagen was hit by a "cloudburst" — an extreme rain event. The storm dumped more than 5 inches of rain on the city in a few hours.

(

Martin Lehmann

/

Polfoto via Associated Press

)

Climate scientists like Payne call these storms "cloudbursts," or extreme rain events. As the planet warms, the atmosphere can hold more moisture, which can lead to more intense rainfall events.

"The typical rule of thumb is that for 1 degree Celsius of warming, the atmosphere holds 7% more water," Payne says.

Europe is the fastest-warming continent, according to scientists from the United Nations and the European Environment Agency. Temperatures are increasing at twice the global average rate, leading to more fires and flooding.

That means cities built centuries ago are racing to adapt.

As the atmosphere warms, it can hold more moisture. This can lead to more intense rainfall events. "The typical rule of thumb is that for 1 degree Celsius of warming, the atmosphere holds 7% more water," says Mark Payne, a climate researcher at the Danish Meteorological Institute.

(

Claire Harbage

/

NPR

)

In Copenhagen, meteorologists predict the city will receive 30% more rainfall by the end of this century. Just a year after the flood, city officials adopted a "Cloudburst Management Plan," a $1.3 billion public works project to complete 300 flood-mitigation projects over two decades.

Tunnels beneath the city

Construction work on the Kalvebod Brygge tunnel project in Copenhagen. When completed, tunnels like this one will hold excess rainwater during extreme rain events like the 2011 cloudburst.

(

Claire Harbage

/

NPR

)

One of the plan's most high-profile projects is nearly complete: the Kalvebod Brygge Cloudburst Tunnel.

To show it off, engineer Jes Clauson-Kaas carefully descends down nine stories of rickety scaffolding along the edge of a massive concrete hole bored into the earth.

When he arrives at the bottom, he lifts his head and brings two fingers to his lips to produce a loud whistle, its screech echoing along the curved concrete walls above.

"An opera singer's dream," he says, smiling.

Clauson-Kaas is chief consultant for the Copenhagen waterworks utility HOFOR, which is overseeing the construction of the tunnel.

Jes Clauson-Kaas is chief consultant for the Copenhagen waterworks utility HOFOR, which is overseeing the construction of the Kalvebod Brygge Cloudburst Tunnel.

(

Claire Harbage

/

NPR

)

As he walks the perimeter of a cathedral-sized vault that will soon be the pump room, he motions to a hole in the wall just above his head: It's the terminus of a tunnel that's nearly a mile long and 10 feet in diameter and can hold 10,000 cubic meters of water, equal to the volume of four Olympic swimming pools. It's one of seven new tunnels dug under Copenhagen to hold excess rainwater during cloudburst events.

Clauson-Kaas explains how it works: Once the tunnel is full, he says, the pumps are switched on, "and they can simply suck out this water into the harbor."

Collecting rain in 'sponge parks'

Just blocks away from the Kalvebod Brygge tunnel is Enghaveparken, a century-old park that was redesigned after the 2011 flood to transform into a massive reservoir in the event of heavy rain.

Today, neighborhood children play on a soccer field carved deep into the ground. The park itself is enclosed by a 3-foot-high concrete wall with gates that automatically emerge from the ground, sealing the park so that it can hold floodwater.

Storing rainwater on the surface makes more sense than expanding the sewer system, says Jan Rasmussen, director of climate adaptation for the city of Copenhagen.

"You can't expand a pipe as easily as this area can be expanded," he says. "[It's] also much cheaper if we can use areas like this to store rainwater."

Rasmussen says Copenhagen has transformed 20 green areas like Enghaveparken into what the city nicknames "sponge parks." When full, he says, Enghaveparken can hold 25,000 cubic meters of water. When it's not raining, a 2,000-cubic-meter storage tank underneath a rose garden in the park holds rainwater collected from the neighborhood's storm drains, used to irrigate the park's lawns, trees and flowers.

Karens Minde Park in Copenhagen has built-in areas for rainwater retention. It's one of the hundreds of projects that Copenhagen is taking on to prevent damage from flooding.

(

Claire Harbage

/

NPR

)

In addition to the sponge parks and cloudburst tunnels, Copenhagen has also just broken ground on a human-made island off its coast, named Lynetteholm. The island will house 35,000 people and protect the city against storm surges, another weather phenomenon happening more often here as the climate warms and sea levels rise. The island is expected to be finished by 2070.

The scale of the city's long-term climate adaptation planning has gained admirers among urban planners throughout the world, says Rasmussen. In addition to penning a collaboration with New York City on climate adaptation, he says, Copenhagen has also consulted with cities in South Africa, China, Germany and beyond on how they can build similar infrastructure to mitigate the increased flooding that comes with climate change.

"The trick to make all of this a success," says Rasmussen, "is intense planning."

Evidence of Copenhagen's plan to fight flooding can be seen all over the city — like this catchment basin in a green space along Scandiagade street.

(

Claire Harbage

/

NPR

)

Esme Nicholson contributed reporting to this piece from Berlin. Edited by Rachel Waldholz.

Copyright 2025 NPR

The long-running debate over where to build a final resting place in Irvine for military veterans couldn’t get past the roadblock that has vexed it for years on Tuesday — where to put it?

After about two hours of discussion, the Irvine City Council voted to table the topic after disagreement over even the parameters of how to go about finding a location for a columbarium, or a structure to inter urns carrying ashes, for veterans with ties to the city.

Councilmember James Mai proposed asking officials to develop a plan for a municipal columbarium, including eligibility preference given  to Irvine residents or those with strong ties to the city and those who served at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro. He asked staff to consider locations across the city for the structure, including  Bill Barber Memorial Park, Northwood Memorial Park and adjacent to the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum. But he also explicitly called for a 125-acre plot of land that used to be part of the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro to be excluded.

The land, also known as the ARDA site, is now part of Great Park, but has long been lobbied for as a location for a veterans cemetery.

Mayor Larry Agran strongly opposed Mai’s proposed exclusion of the ARDA site, calling the idea “offensive.” Instead, he reiterated his longstanding call for a veterans cemetery at the location.

The council eventually voted 4-3 to table the proposal.

Orange County is home to an estimated 130,000 veterans, but the nearest cemetery dedicated to military personnel is the Riverside National Cemetery more than 40 miles away.

It isn’t the first time a final resting place for veterans has stalled in front of the Irvine City Council. Last year, plans for a veterans cemetery or columbarium were shut down on two separate occasions.

So why does it keep coming back?

For veterans in Irvine, the cemetery represents a broken promise.

When the marine base was shuttered in 1999, Irvine’s population was just over 130,000 and the Great Park idea was nonexistent.

Orange County lobbied for an airport. But for veterans and their families, the former marine base seemed like the perfect resting place where they could receive their last rites for service to their country — and some are still holding on to that hope with a staunch ally in Agran.

But in the years since the debates began, Irvine's population has more than doubled to more than 300,000 and Great Park has been transformed into a residential community for young families, with a $1 billion expansion underway that includes an amphitheater, retail and dining options. The area, residents say, has been transformed too much to also include a cemetery.

Also, the site eyed for a potential cemetery is near an elementary school and families — many of whom are immigrants — who live in the area say it’s bad luck.

But what about a resting place for veterans?

There’s political support, including from state leadership, for a cemetery in Orange County. A bill approved in 2014, AB 1453, calls on the state to build and maintain a resting place for veterans in the area.

After efforts to build it at the former marine base stalled over and over again, a group of fed-up veterans finally took their plans to Anaheim’s Gypsum Canyon.

That location quickly won support from city, county, state and federal leaders.

Construction at the Anaheim site is set to begin this year. However, Agran is convinced that the cemetery will actually come to fruition in Irvine.

Standing on a busy street in Skid Row on a recent sunny day, Mary Marfisee tried to block out street noise as she popped her stethoscope into her ears. Dozens of people were milling about. Dogs barked. Music blared. A constant thrum of cars drove past.

But Marfisee is used to the commotion.

"I'm going to listen to your lungs and see if they're ok. Is that ok?" Marfisee asked Hermione, a nervous woman in her twenties who declined to give NPR her full name out of fear for her safety. She was pushing a stroller loaded with plastic bags, stuffed with her belongings.

Marfisee pressed the stethoscope onto the back of Hermione's oversized sweatshirt.

"Your lungs are tight," Marfisee said with concern after a few beats. "Are you having trouble breathing?" she asked.

Everything about Marfisee's approach is slow and deliberate. Before touching Hermione's arm, she hovers her hand over it and makes eye contact. Then, she lowers her hand gently. It's a deliberate, patient approach she's developed over her long career as a family medicine physician.

Hermione's worried expression relaxed. She explained that she has asthma and her inhaler was running low on medicine. She also lost her emergency EpiPen, she said. But when Marfisee offered information about a few nearby clinics that would be able to take her as a walk-in patient, Hermione turned it down.

"Maybe later. They have a bed for me at the Union Rescue Mission," Hermione said, and Marfisee's face bloomed into a smile.

That's because Marfisee, an assistant professor of medicine at UCLA, is also the family medical services director at the Union Rescue Mission. The Christian organization operates a four-story homeless shelter that is one of the oldest and largest homeless missions in Southern California. She told NPR she's coming up on 20 years tending to the more than 5,000 men, women and children who come through the doors of the shelter every year. Over that span, she's also become a recognizable figure throughout Skid Row on regular walking rounds of "street medicine" delivered to unhoused people where they are.

The interaction with Hermione is a classic example of what typically happens with her patients — both inside the mission or on city sidewalks, Marfisee said.

"Their top priority" is finding stable housing. "Their health is at the bottom of the list," she explained.

As a result, small problems, such as infections, cuts or chronic health issues often fester and become much more serious, she said.

Christmas decorations adorn the walls at the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles. December 15, 2025.

(

Zaydee Sanchez for NPR

)

Women experiencing homelessness face unique health challenges with few resources

Los Angeles' Skid Row is an epicenter of the homelessness crisis — not just in California, but also the nation. According to a 2025 Los Angeles Homeless Services report, an estimated 43,695 city residents were homeless at the time of an annual count of the homeless population in February. Less than half — 16,723 — live in shelters while the rest are unsheltered.

Meanwhile, a 2024 study on homelessness in Los Angeles from the nonprofit research organization RAND found that Skid Row's unsheltered population continues to skew older and female. Data also shows that this group of women has significantly lower physical and mental health than those who are sheltered, due to factors such as lack of insurance and transportation. That's particularly true for basic services such as gynecological and prenatal care.

The homeless women Marfisee works with face even more challenges than men due to a lack of services, she said.

"There are clinics on Skid Row for general health services but nothing specifically set up to address women's health needs."

Union Rescue Mission's internal studies found that about 87% of women were not up to date with their preventative pap smear or mammogram health screenings.

And when women from shelters do try to get preventative care, they're often faced with a variety of challenges. Marfisee recounted one instance in which a patient who had a family history of breast cancer was trying to schedule a mammogram. After hours of calls, Marfisee said, the earliest appointment her team was able to schedule was nine months out. Then, there were more obstacles.

"She had to come in with her proof of Medicare. Well, she not only didn't have her medical card, she'd moved from address to address, didn't even have an I.D. anymore. So we had to start that whole process," Marfisee said.

Dr. Mary Marfisee and two UCLA medical students lead a cancer awareness talk in the Union Rescue Mission chapel in Los Angeles, educating women residents about cancer prevention and care.

(

Zaydee Sanchez for NPR

)

Another of her patients, a woman who had suffered from lower abdominal pains for decades, faced similar setbacks. When she wasn't in crisis mode — moving from one place to another, and in and out of shelters — the woman went from clinic to clinic seeking help, Marfisee said. But finding the root cause was difficult without consistent care from a doctor to see the case through.

It wasn't until Marfisee and her staff conducted an hours-long history that they learned she had had an IUD placed 32 years prior.

"We could correlate the pain to the birth of her daughter, who was 32 years old, and who was also [living at URM] with her," Marfisee said.

The team scoured their contacts and arranged an emergency appointment for the woman at a county hospital. That's where they confirmed that the forgotten IUD, which can last from 3 to 10 years, had never been removed and was "incarcerated into [her] lower uterine wall," Marfisee said.

She described it as a devastating and eye-opening moment that propelled her into action.

"We felt like we were doing Band-Aid women's health," Marfisee said. "We would just treat an infection or treat a problem, but not really get to the screening issues."

A resident at the Union Rescue Mission reviews a flyer providing information on different types of cancers and their risks. December 15, 2025

(

Zaydee Sanchez for NPR

)

Potential solutions meet red tape

It lit a fire in Marfisee to provide more resources for the 150 or so women who find themselves living at the shelter at any given time. Marfisee began contacting other clinics in the area but soon realized that they were not equipped to offer those services either.

"But I'm great at research," she boasted — and dogged, too.

In December she launched the first phase of a new women's health initiative at the shelter. Alongside some medical student interns, she leads regular town halls to raise awareness about important screenings, including cervical and breast cancer check ups. They encourage the women who attend to ask questions and talk about their own health.

But it's the next phase of the initiative that Marfisee believes will make the greatest difference in these women's lives. URM has partnered with a local hospital to bring a mobile health van to the shelter twice a month. That will allow Marfisee and other volunteer physicians to offer free pap smears and mammograms to the shelter's residents. She estimates they'll be able to provide up to 100 breast exams per visit.

"One of the things that [people who work with homeless women] always say is that these women are so resilient. And I understand why they say that," she said. "But I started to rethink that because they are not really able to take care of their gynecological health needs on their own. They can't really self-treat. They need to be told that this lump that they may have been palpating in the breast is something significant."

The van could be life saving, Marfisee said. Studies show that homeless women die from breast cancer at nearly twice the rate of the general population, largely due to a lack of access to adequate care and the fact that they are more likely to be diagnosed at a later, more advanced stage of the disease.

Unfortunately, she said, the plan to provide mobile health to these women hit a few red-tape and logistical snags, and is three months behind schedule; the van driver's schedule is booked up and the shelter needs to figure out how they'll be dumping any medical waste.

Marfisee, a self-described optimist, estimates they'll overcome the challenges and begin screening patients by February.

"No matter what it takes, we'll get it done. We just have to," she said.

UCLA medical students, working alongside Dr. Mary Marfisee, walk the streets of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, offering medical care to women in need. December 15, 2025.

(

Zaydee Sanchez for NPR

)

Meanwhile, the work continues

Back out on the street, in a small, neglected park about a block away from URM, Marfisee turns onto San Julian Street, which she calls "one of the roughest streets in the city."

There are more than a dozen adults at the park, in various states of alertness; some are in groups, others are alone. One of them is an older woman in a wheelchair. Her hands are gnarled, frozen in what looks to be a painful position.

She's got a scowl on her face as Marfisee and her students approach. But after a few minutes she warms up to them. They go over their set of screening questions: Any aches and pains? Skin issues? Cuts or bruises?

The woman's responses are quiet and mostly monosyllabic, but after a few minutes, she reaches out and takes Marfisee's hands into her own.

She's Marfisee's last street patient of the day. Heading back toward URM, Marfisee makes a note.

"Let's keep her in mind and make a note of where she hangs out, so we can follow up with her," she said.

Marfisee headed into the shelter where she'd jump right into seeing other patients. Maybe, she hoped, that might include Hermione.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Dr. Mary Marfisee and UCLA medical students Rashna Soonavala (right) and Jessica Menjivar Cruz (left). December 15, 2025.

(

Zaydee Sanchez for NPR

)

This story will be updated. Check back for details.

Ticket registration for the 2028 Olympic Games is officially open. Fans have until March 18 to join the ticket draw, and tickets will go on sale in April, starting with a pre-sale for locals.

After registration for the ticket raffle opened at 7a.m. Wednesday, some reported long wait times to register, and others still had questions about the process after signing up.

Here are answers to some of your questions.

When will I learn if I was selected for a time slot to buy tickets?
You'll get an email between March 31 and April 7 if you win a slot.

How many tickets can I buy?
You can buy up to 12 tickets.

Do kids need tickets? 
Yes. Kids of any age will need their own ticket.

The locals pre-sale is for people living in certain ZIP codes. How will Olympics organizers verify that the people purchasing the tickets are locals?
LA28 asks locals to register using their ZIP code and then use the same billing ZIP code when actually purchasing tickets.

Will I be able to buy multiple tickets for one event? 
Yes. LA28 says in its FAQ that you can transfer tickets to other "named ticket holders."

Can I buy group tickets?
Yes. Groups of 50 people or more can fill out an interest form to purchase group tickets.

When I buy tickets, can I select my seat?
You will be able to choose a "seat category" but not a specific seat, according to LA28. Its website says that your seat will be assigned to you later on.

Will people be able to re-sell their tickets?
Yes. According to LA28, there will be an "Official Secondary Market." The organization didn't provide any additional details.

Will each ticket drop have tickets for all sports?
Yes. According to LA28, tickets for every Olympic sport will be on sale in each drop.