Thursday, July 11, 2019

A floodier future

The federal government is warning Americans to brace for a “floodier” future.
Government scientists predict 40 places in the U.S. will experience higher than normal rates of so-called sunny day flooding this year because of rising sea levels and an abnormal El Nino weather system.
A report released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that sunny day flooding, also known as tidal flooding, will continue to increase.
“The future is already here, a floodier future,” said William Sweet, a NOAA oceanographer and lead author of the study. The report predicted that annual flood records will be broken again next year and for years and decades to come from sea-level rise. 
“Flooding that decades ago usually happened only during a powerful or localized storm can now happen when a steady breeze or a change in coastal current overlaps with a high tide,” it read.

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