Posted on 12/21/2014 5:25:36 AM PST by raybbr
SAN FRANCISCO Major U.S. coastal cities, including Washington, D.C. and Wilmington, North Carolina, have already slipped past a sea level rise-related tipping point, and into a new era of increasingly common and damaging coastal flooding events, a new study found.
Other cities along the East and Gulf Coasts are following close behind, with the majority of coastal areas in the U.S. expected to see 30 or more days of nuisance-level flooding each year by 2050, regardless of how significantly countries cut emissions of the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming, according to the study.
The study defines this flood frequency as the "tipping point" in the local flood regime, with major implications for the management of coastal roads and critical infrastructure located close to sea level, since there will be far less time for repairs between floods.
Nuisance-type flooding is defined as flooding to a height of between 1 to 2 feet above local high-tide levels. Such floods, the study said, are now five to 10 times more likely today than they were just 50 years ago.
Miami Flooding
A cyclist and vehicles negotiate heavily flooded streets as rain falls on Sept. 23, 2014, in Miami Beach, Florida. Certain neighborhoods regularly experience flooding during heavy rains and extreme high tides.
Although the term nuisance floods may connote minor flooding with little reason for concern, the impacts of repetitive floods should not be underestimated, the studys lead author, William Sweet of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told reporters at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union on Thursday.
Its an emerging flooding crisis, Sweet, an oceanographer with NOAAs National Ocean Service, said.
(Excerpt) Read more at mashable.com ...
Who knew...?
(News from the future) “On the plus side, having become a popular tourist destination for scuba divers, for the first time in US history, Washington, D.C. has positively contributed to the economy.”
The construction of the Washington Monument was stopped during the Civil War, and when it was resumed later, a slightly lighter shade of stone was used. This resulted in a noticeable line between the darker stone and the lighter stone about 100 feet up the monument. I always tell visitors that the line is the high water mark from the 1936 flood.
Seriously though, D.C. is between 300-400 feet above sea level, so I think the only city that has passed a tipping point is San Francisco from where all this nonsense emanates -- but we knew that already.
When the first island in the chain of glorified sandbars known as the Outer Banks of North Carolina remains submerged for any length of time, I’ll begin to reconsider my disbelief. Ocean to sound overwash is common during hurricanes and even strong nor’easters. Always has been. The only thing that’s ever held them in place long enough for human habitation to develop into fishing villages and resort towns has been juniper, live oak and yaupon trees. Other than high dune fields, none of them are more than a few feet above sea level.
Last I checked they’re still there, with beach cottages built as far back as a hundred years ago still intact. Is there beach erosion? Sure. Always has been. Those islands move. One end erodes, the other end expands from sedimentation. Are new inlets cut during storms? Sure. And they have been through recorded history. Old ones fill in, new ones form.
According to the climate change propagandists, it’s all supposed to stay the same, with any change being viewed as a Threat To Humanity that only they can fix at the federal level. It’s all politics, having nothing to do with anything other than increased governmental control over private property. They want to seize oceanfront lands. For our safety, of course.
“Such floods, the study said, are now five to 10 times more likely today than they were just 50 years ago.”
Ahh, not happening, just “more likely.”
T’m LOL so har my sidea hurt.
The article contradicts itself. It claims that the sea-level is rising because there is more flooding, but then defines flooding in terms above sea-level. If the frequency of above sea-level flooding is increasing, it actually suggests that the sea is lower in order to allow that to happen.
...and in totally unrelated news ... “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”
Nothing worthy to save in Washington D.C except the US Constitution as for San Fransicko the only thing worth saving is their Sour Dough Bread, Gheridelli Chocolate and the 49ers [ducks] =]
Crises and ignorance
are the only means by which government obtains power and money,
and the only means by which government workers obtain greater responsibility and treasure.
LOL. I take it that you've never been to the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, or the National Gallery of Art. Even the Smithsonian's gem collection alone, which includes the Hope Diamond, would pay off a sizeable chunk of the national debt.
I see the LOLing has affected your typing, too.
Oh yes, It did.
I’m holding my breath waiting for the price of ocean-front property to drop.
As rising sea levels reach ever farther up the pristine sides of the Washington Monument, and dead polar bears float up against the White House porch, your gender-normative, hegemonic, patriarchal, imperial, colonial, and anti-scientific consensus remarks are an especial affront to the LGBT community and single moms of color and their children, who, as you well know, damn you, will suffer most, as sea levels inexorably rise.
I would reply on YC stationery, but the clubhouse is already under water. The level of St. Joseph Sound has risen so high that Mom had to get new wellies to get out to her kayak!
I traded mine in a long time ago for waders.
Now I'm looking at a boat.
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