Close
KTAR.com
News
Shows
Blogs
KTAR News on 92.3FM

US could see a century’s worth of sea rise in just 30 years

FILE - Part of the sidewalk near the Jefferson Memorial is covered in water during high tide at the Tidal Basin in Washington, Wednesday, April 3, 2019. Decades of wear and tear from foot traffic, combined with rising sea levels and a deteriorating sea wall, have created a chronic flooding problem in the Tidal Basin, the manmade 107-acre reservoir that borders the Jefferson Memorial, home to the highest concentration of cherry blossom trees. (AP Photo/Ashraf Khalil, File) FILE - A woman walks along a flooded street caused by a king tide, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019, in Miami Beach, Fla. Low-lying neighborhoods in South Florida are vulnerable to the seasonal flooding caused by king tides. While higher seas cause much more damage when storms such as hurricanes hit the coast, they are getting to the point where it doesn’t have to storm to be a problem. High tides get larger and water flows further inland and deeper even on sunny days. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File) FILE - Workers build a sand berm to prevent flooding north of the Balboa Pier during high tide in Newport Beach, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021. According to a U.S. federal report released on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, seas lapping against America’s coastlines are rising ever faster and will be 10 to 12 inches higher by the year 2050 with major U.S. Eastern cities regularly hit with costly sunny day flooding. (Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register via AP) FILE - A storm drain bubbles over as a king tide rolls into the Battery in Charleston, S.C. Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020. On average, U.S. coastlines will get the same amount of sea level rise in the next 30 years as it did in the previous century because climate change is accelerating how much the seas rise, says the Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022 study lead author William Sweet, an oceanographer for NOAA’s National Ocean Service. Warmer water expands, plus melting ice sheets and glaciers add to how much water is in the oceans. (AP Photo/Mic Smith, File) FILE - As high tide laps against the sea wall tourist walk down the Battery in Charleston, S.C. Friday, Nov. 13, 2020. According to a U.S. federal report released on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, seas lapping against America’s coastlines are rising ever faster and will be 10 to 12 inches higher by the year 2050 with major U.S. Eastern cities regularly hit with costly sunny day flooding. (AP Photo/Mic Smith, File)