About 41 million Americans live in areas that have a chance of flooding — and the number exposed to serious flooding is as much as 3.1 times higher than previous estimates.
Time is clearly not on our side. Sea levels are rising faster than predicted, and homeowners in particularly vulnerable areas, such as South Florida, could see their properties literally under water within their lifetimes. Relative sea levels there are roughly four inches higher now than in 1992; various projections, including by the Army Corps of Engineers, see rises in South Florida of 12 inches by 2030 and between 2 to 3 feet by 2060.
What’s more, “rare events are going to become more common in the future strictly due to sea level rise,” William Sweet, an oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told The Guardian.
CNN Wire
Sep. 22, 2018