Rising sea levels combined with storm surges will put more than 5 million people on U.S. coastlines at risk of flooding during the next 30 years, according to new research.
The combination could raise sea levels during storms to 4 feet above the high-tide line, threatening property that contains 2.6 million homes on 3 million acres of land, according to the report released Wednesday by Climate Central, a nonprofit research and journalism organization based in New Jersey.
“Escalating floods from sea level rise will affect millions of people, and threaten countless billions of dollars of damage to buildings and infrastructure,” Climate Central's Ben Strauss, the lead author of the report, said in a statement.
The report, titled "Surging Seas," is based on two new peer-reviewed studies, both published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. Climate Central calls it "the first major national analysis of sea level rise in 20 years."
It says the odds of once-in-100-years flooding hitting regions of the coastal U.S. have more than doubled.
“Just a small amount of sea level rise, including what we may well see within the next 20 years, can turn yesterday’s manageable flood into tomorrow’s potential disaster," Strauss said in a statement.
The report takes flood analysis down to the local level. In 285 coastal cities and towns, half the population lives below that 4-foot mark, it says. Florida faces the biggest threat from the coastal flooding, according to the researchers.
"A preliminary independent analysis suggests about $30 billion in taxable property is vulnerable below the 3-foot line in just three counties in southeast Florida, not including the county with the most homes at risk in the state and the nation, Miami-Dade," a summary of the report says.
Other states facing substantial risk are Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland, New York and Virginia, the report says. The report includes interactive maps showing how the rising seas could hit local areas.
To lessen the possibility of catastrophic flooding, the report calls for action to fight global climate change.
"The United States must work to slow sea level rise by reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases, and work to diminish the remaining danger by preparing for higher seas in coastal cities and counties everywhere," it says.
See a visualization of how rising sea levels could affect areas around the world
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Nothing can stop the earth from warming. All that our pollution has done is make what would have been a slow and mild natural change for the better into a violent change with extremes of weather. And all that the "Al Gores" do is personally profit from peoples ignorance. One single volcano burned that hole in our ozone layer millenia ago, not your cars a/c, not your spray cans. Without that hole, life would never have happened.
maybe if we quit farting we can prevent global warming
Philip and other climate change deniers are like the opposite of the boy who cried wolf. They have their heads in the sand (if not up their anal orifices).
Even if his statement is true – which it is not – I'd ask him: Do you want to be part of the problem, or part of the solution?? Also, WHO has more of a huge, vested economic interest in the climate change question, and who is more trustworthy – corporations, whose only goal is increasing profits, or academic scientists?? And don't give me that ca-ca about scientists wanting to increase their grants, because grants do NOT go into scientists' pockets – they go toward purchasing equipment, paying for travel and hiring staff. Corporate profits go directly into CEOs pockets.
Now seriously, who do you think has more incentive to be dishonest? Who has more incentive to deny the increasingly obvious reality?? Furthermore, many of the lawyers and other "brains" (?) advising the climate change denial scam are the same as those who tried to defend the tobacco industry against the growing evidence that cigarettes ruin peoples' health. No coincidence at all: These people will lose some of their precious riches if they can't make unfettered, outrageous profits off of people who in the end will be damaged by their product.
I hope Philip and others with their heads buried in the sand live somewhere near a beach, so they can watch the waters rise and flood their lives and their lies.
Damnnnnn!...well said..
I think you all need to be thankful to the Hole. Thank the Hole for the very fact that you are alive. Do not disrespect the Hole. Bow to the Hole, in all it's glory, not to the tree hugging activists or large corporations, which the Hole will eventually swallow like so many trilobites.
well let go of the hole....media spent a hefty 5 years fishing that hole...for all to see...and once this hole is done they will find another one...like when they cought bin laden it wasnt enoigh they had to find more enemies to put in the spolight to destroy...just to protect the big arrogant hole in hollywood s cyberspace of course...;and make sure that all the chosen ones are at the right contest and they won t end up with a hole in their pockets...of course...never defy gravity
Tell me what I don't understand with this picture...
Here's a simple test (without me being an environmental alarmist) that you can try at home.
Take an 8oz. glass out (we'll refer to this as the total volume of water in the world).
Now fill the glass 3/4 full with water (we'll refer to this as the sum all the water in the world)
Now top the water with ice cubes and a little frost just to the top of the glass(we'll refer to this as the sum volume of polar ice and snow)
Now just let the glass sit on the countertop for an hour (this represents a couple million years of passing time)
After an hour, did the water overrun the glass, soaking the countertop?
Did you see a 30' rise in sea level?
Pure alarmist. Get it? Alarmist. Just another liberal gambit to get your vote.
Jeff,, what you dont get is that the ice thats in the ocean and goes all the way to the sea floor is not the problem...the problem is all that ice out of the water thats melting,..do this other test...put water on a cup 1/2 way now put ice in it...enough to fill the hole glass and enough to be out of the water line....now see what you get.....the ice on the cup has allread been accounted for much like the ice in the ocean,,,but the one out of the water has not because its being sustain by the bottom of the ocean.....do understand?
Oh Jeff.......Its not the ice that is floating on top of the oceans we worry about. Its the ice sitting on land masses or the shallow ocean floor and extents above the surface that's the worry. This ice, if/when it melts will run into the oceans and raise their levels.
I suggest you put a little Canadian Club rye whiskey in your glass of icy water and have a drink and relax before you hurt yourself.
now this I like... why cant everyone be as smart as Jeff?
Good to see MSM starting to cover the story of the century... or perhaps the story of the millenia.
Who really cares anyways. It's election year, and it's all good. Around April, the ruling class will find more gimmicks to get your vote. Before it's over with Obama will give out "free" lifeboats and oars with every voting pledge made along a U.S. coastline. He knows there IS NO END to the working classes money...huh?
Brainwashed FNC followers like you baffle the mind. How can you blatantly ignore common sense? What do you stand to gain? Do you own an oil company? No? Then why choose to only believe science that is convenient?
I just hope I'm wrong.
///////////END JF SESSION THIS THREAD/////////
@JF
Didn't some scientist already educate you on another post when you made the same claim of your home cup and ice test?
By the way, what happens when you do the same "experiment," but use an empty glass and let the ice melt?
I'm just saying.
Hahahahahaha
Lol
Jeff feels strongly about this. For my part, I believe this is mostly a natural occurance, and if I'm right, it means we're doomed because we do not adapt well, as a species. And I certainly hope I'm wrong.
@BOMBO
Good point. I don't stand on the far end of either side of this issue. Although, I do think everyone in the world should take note of what's going on and try to curb our emissions if at all possible.
Other experiments you can do in your kitchen – you can use a potato and a penny to power a clock. It also works with a lemon. Try it. You'll never buy batteries again. Just potatoes and lemons. Then you'll throw them away without eating them, because nobody wants to eat a potato that had a penny and two electrodes stuck in it for days. So maybe the batteries are less wasteful after all, I don't know. You can also tape a balloon and stick a needle into it, and it won't pop. Unless you're using crappy tape. Then it will pop. And you'll be saying, BOMBO, what the hell are you talking about, I just wasted a perfectly good balloon and scared the cat.
Now *that* was funny!
Are you blameing this on OBAMA! ?
Of course they are, everything that's wrong in the world today is Obama's fault. Get with the program for pete's sake.
thats it? someone says canada and all of a sudden no more butter?
yes
yes!!
Instead of building a useless political fence between the US and Mexico, lets issue green cards so someone will build a cheap waterproof wall around the entire US to keep our cities dry and those beach homes safe.
Portland?
I used to live there. Worked at the River Forum on Macadam between the new Spaghetti Factory and Multnomah Park. Beautiful part of the country. Hate to see the effects rising sea levels will have on our rivers.
It's not as easy as hiring a few Mexicans... but, I appreciate the humor... I think.
Why do people want to make this a political issue?
Truth is global warming is true and it's becoming a problem at an alarming rate. Huge, ancient glaziers are breaking apart and melting in the sea. The earth's core is heating up because there's a cloud of unnatural carbons surrounding the earth and interfering with the flow of heat and gases being released through the earth's surface to the upper atmosphere.
To call this change a 'natural' evolution is absurd. There is nothing in nature that creates this condition. As caretakers, we need to do something about it.
Stop polluting!
Actually, there have been plenty of periods in Earth's history in which weather patterns have been much more unstable than they are now, long before civilization. We have been rather spoiled over the past few centuries to have lived during a very stable period. Although it is certainly a good idea to stop polluting, linking it to climate change based on a few decades of weather data is irresponsible. It is a POLITICAL move that could backfire. If we see a cooling or stabilizing trend over the next couple of years, the naysayers will be quick to say "I told you so!"
Where were you when the earth was being formed?
To use the changes that happened eons ago is
a low blow. But we agree changing the way we
think about the effects we have on our planet
and eliminating carbon emissions couldn't hurt.
Hopefully, those who study such things won't
be telling us, "I told you so".
When it was discovered aerosol disturbed the ozone,
people complied. Nowdays, people just want
to argue and debate. How the mindset of the
world has changed.
There are fluctuations in temperature over time. The earth is actually in a cooling period. This has not been discussed by global warming scientists since there is a control/taxation issue at stake.
Yes it supose to be in a cooling period,but do to global warming ,mother earth is haveing issues cooling and thete for triggering major disasters,such as floods , mammoth tornatoes never before seen,sunamis,and mega earth quakes...just ask the people up north is these twisters are normal....are you calling these people crazy also?....hope not!
There for........tornados......