US: Sinking shores and rising seas could impact 24 coastal cities by 2050
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | May 2024
Flooding could affect one out of every 50 residents in 24 coastal cities in the US by 2050 according to a new study.
The new study Disappearing cities on US coasts led by Virginia Tech National Security Institute researchers and published in a recent issue of scientific journal Nature suggests that a combination of land subsidence - in this case, the sinking of shoreline - and rising sea levels can lead to the flooding of coastal areas sooner than previously anticipated by research that had focused primarily on sea level rise scenarios alone.
Virginia Tech department of Geosciences researcher and lead author of the study Leonard Ohenhen said the research team wanted to really emphasise the impact of land subsidence, which is often not reflected in most of the discussion around sea level rise.
He said, “We tend to think of the consequences of climate change as a long-term effect and that often leads to under preparation.”
The study combines measurements of land subsidence obtained from satellites with sea level rise projections and tide charts, offering a more holistic projection of potential flooding risks in 32 cities located along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts.
The study found that out of the 32 coastal cities examined, 24 are sinking more than 2mm per year. Half of these cities have specific areas that are sinking faster than the global sea levels are rising.
Up to 500,000 individuals living in these regions may be impacted in the next 30 years, with potentially one in every 35 private properties facing flooding damages. M