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Sea Level Rise - Map Viewer

Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts

With storms and storm surge starting to impact coastal flooding, sea rise is beginning to be felt more and more. If you are a coastal community or business, you can look at the sea level projections (up to 5 feet of rise) at this NOAA site Sea Level Rise - Map Viewer.

Many people measure the potential impacts in these cases based on how long they expect to live. I suppose that is fine if you are older and don't care, but if you are making investments in buildings and infrastructure that will be around for a hundred years, then think again. A little bit of consideration from you will be appreciated by future generations.

Then there is this very current article that speaks to Sunny Day Flooding.

As you personally make decisions about where to live, where to build, I suggest you be driven by facts and not politics. This quote below from the linked article is an example of taking a political point of view and applying it to what should be a science-based decision. As one guy would say these days, "Not good, not good at all!"

"Many people in Congress, almost all of them Republicans, express doubt about climate science, with some of them promulgating conspiracy theories claiming that researchers have invented the issue to justify greater governmental control over people’s lives. So far, this ideological position has been immune to the rising evidence of harm from human-induced climate change."

One good fact to remember, Washington, D.C. is subject to rising seas more than many areas of the nation. When folks start commuting to work and Congress by boat, then maybe the facts will sink in.

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.
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