Extreme floods to hit US cities ‘almost daily’ by 2100

Coastal cities in the United States could experience “once in a lifetime” extreme flood events almost daily by the end of the century if sea levels continue to rise at current rates, new research showed on Thursday. Emissions from burning fossil fuels have already warmed Earth more than one degree Celsius above pre-industrial times, melting polar ice sheets and boosting global sea levels.

With oceans predicted to rise by one to two metres by 2100, researchers in the US looked at the frequency of extreme water levels measured by 202 tide gauges along the US coastline. They combined this data with various modelled pathways of sea-level rise to predict the rate at which flooding events may increase in future. The results were stark: at nearly three-quarters of the gauge locations the difference between average high tide and a once-in-50-years flooding event was less than a metre.

“In the absence of adaptation measures, the rate of coastal hazard impacts will likely double every five years, and this is indeed quite problematic,” lead study author Sean Vitousek, from the United States Geological Survey, told AFP.

Source: Digital Journal