2021 high tide floods in Annapolis, Maryland. On the East and Gulf coasts, the number of days with high tide flooding is increasing. Caption hidden by Brian Witte/AP
switch to caption Brian Witte/AP
2021 high tide floods in Annapolis, Maryland. On the East and Gulf coasts, the number of days with high tide flooding is increasing.
AAP’s Brian Witte According to two recent evaluations that look at the risks and expenses of coastal floods in the U.S., climate change is increasing flooding across the nation, and the cost of flood damage to properties can be quite high.
The discoveries could not have come at a better time as thousands of families are in ruins following last week’s floods that claimed the lives of scores of people in Appalachia and wrecked homes in Arizona and St. Louis. And the Atlantic is approaching its peak hurricane season.
Flooding brought on by sea level rise is getting worse, according to an annual report released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Even when there is no storm, ocean water floods coastal cities during high tides.
As one of the report’s authors and a NOAA oceanographer, William Sweet says, “Impacts of sea level rise are happening now and developing quickly.”
On the East and Gulf coasts, the frequency of so-called sunny day floods is increasing. For instance, the Northeast saw 8 high tide flood days on average in 2021, a 200 percent increase over the number of flood days in 2000.
According to federal data, such floods may start to more frequently in the future. According to the analysis, by 2050 high tides might carry water into neighborhoods on hundreds of occasions annually.
In some areas of the United States, such as the Mid-Atlantic and Gulf Coast, sea levels are increasing more swiftly. Where the land is collapsing and the water is rising, the risk is greatest. As people pump out drinking water, gas, and oil in Louisiana and Texas, the earth crumbles as a result of this exploitation.
Sweet claims, “In that section of the country, the soil is sinking.” And in some places, it’s sinking more quickly than the ocean is rising.
That has caused the number of bright days with water on the streets to rise quickly. For instance, the region around Galveston, Texas, went from having an average of three high tide flood days 20 years ago to having 14 such days last year and is expected to have at least 170 days of such flooding by the year 2050. That implies that the area around Galveston would see flooding every other day.
Flooding during hurricanes is also made worse by rising seas. This is as a result of storms pushing more ocean water ashore. Additionally, since subterranean drainage lines are filled with salt water, precipitation accumulates and backs up in streets, parking lots, and basements. In addition, more rain is falling during storms due to climate change, which might result in flash floods.
All of this adds up to a marked increase in home flooding damage. Additionally, flood damage is very costly. floods have caused at least $50 billion has caused damage in the US over the past ten years.
But what does that imply for those who live close to a floodplain? According to A new analysis commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council , flood damage can cost a household tens of thousands of dollars, and many homebuyers are unaware of this possible expense.
According to the new analysis, which examines housing and flood data for the three flood-prone coastal states of New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina, around 29,000 previously flooded homes will be sold in 2021.
Actuaries estimated the future cost of flood damage for those homes using housing and flood models. According to their estimates, homeowners in North Carolina might sustain flood damage of at least $35,000 over the course of a 30-year mortgage. Future flood damage is considerably more expensive in New Jersey and New York, where homes are more pricey.
According to Joel Scata, who studies flood risk for the Natural Resources Defense Council, “I think by putting a price on that amount of damage, it really highlights just how vulnerable home purchasers might be, owning a previously flooded home.”
They concentrated on those three states, according to him, because homebuyers there get little to no information about a property’s flood history.
According to Scata, “the disclosure regulations in these three states are insufficient since they don’t explicitly require home sellers to disclose to buyers whether a house has ever flooded or how many times it has,” Information on the risk of flooding must be disclosed during home sales in some other states, including Texas and Louisiana.
Living in a flood-prone location without being aware of it may be financially catastrophic, especially for low-income households and renters, according to NPR’s analysis of flood disclosure legislation nationwide in 2020.
Home buyers should have the legal right to be informed of any potential flood risks, according to Scata. “The effects could be so severe as to be financially devastating.”
