Photo Credit: NOAA’s National Ocean Service
Sea levels are continuing to rise and many of the coastal US cities are seeing an increase in the number of street floods.
Statistics have shown that from 2000-2019, flooding events have jumped by 190 percent in the southeast, and by 140 percent in the northeast. This can cause severe damage to septic systems, farmlands, and traffic flow. Records are consistently being set with tidal flooding along the coast.
The East Coast and the Gulf Coast are the most affected right now. Flooding in the northeast is due to offshore winds and ocean currents that come along with the sea level rising. This active system is showing no signs of stopping.
In the next meteorological year, an average of eight days of tidal flooding stretching from Virginia to Maine is expected. Cities like Boston and New York are going to experience more flooding than normal. This is something that all of these cities are going to have to prepare for in the event of any potential emergencies.
It is expected that by the year 2050, flooding will become the new normal. Cities could have up to 170 days of high tide flooding. It is extremely worrisome to think that this could be the new normal. This is something that truly needs to be examined and studied to find ways that we can prevent these flooding events from occurring on a consistent basis.
