Welcome to Locally Sourced, a biweekly Covering Climate Now newsletter for journalists working to localize the climate story. Share this newsletter with colleagues and journalism students interested in localizing the climate story. Vea la versión en español de “Fuentes Locales.”
Story Spark: Coastal Flooding and Sea-Level Rise
Driven by melting ice and thermal expansion (as warm water takes up more space), global sea levels have risen approximately 8-9 inches since 1880, due to global heating. As a result, coastal flooding now happens three times more often in the US than they did 30 years ago. As sea levels continue to rise, it’s estimated that 2.5 million Americans will be at risk from a severe coastal flood by 2050.
Though sometimes referred to as “nuisance flooding,” flooding caused by elevated high tides has serious (and expensive) consequences. Directly tied to rising oceans, this flooding poses an ever-increasing threat to homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure for the over a billion people that live within a few miles of the coast. Studies show that older adults, Black, Latino, and Native American communities are disproportionately exposed to these risks that may result in some coastal areas becoming unlivable.
Sea level rise’s impact extends beyond just high tide flooding, as higher background water levels can also amplify coinciding flood events: from a storm’s deluge amplified by a warmer atmosphere to more deadly and destructive storm surge from a hurricane supercharged by record-warmth in the Atlantic.
Stories We Like
- As more older Americans move to the coasts, rising seas are wiping out their homes — and retirement dreams, AARP reports.
- In Bangladesh, worsening flooding and sea-level rise has led some farmers to grow vegetables literally on the water. National Catholic Reporter highlights the renewed interest in this adaptation method, which dates back more than 200 years.
- Amsterdam News reports on the “double-whammy” of heavy rain and high tides, influenced by climate change, in New York City’s predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods.
- In Florida, sea levels are rising much faster than the global average, amplifying impacts caused by coastal flooding and hurricanes’ storm surge, Inside Climate News reports.
- WGBH explores how Boston’s infrastructure isn’t prepared for flooding caused by “wicked high king tides,” which are becoming more common as sea levels rise.
- On Vancouver Island, communities are developing and testing adaptation strategies to fight against the rising tides and increasing flooding, the Williams Lake Tribune reports.
Expert Tips
Chris Mooney, a professor of practice and practitioner fellow in the Environmental Institute at the University of Virginia, offers tips for reporting on coastal flooding and sea-level rise. Previously a reporter on climate change at The Washington Post for nearly a decade, Mooney won the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting in 2020 for the series “2°C: Beyond the Limit,” which identified the fastest-warming places on the planet.
Learn the data. You’ll want to become familiar with multiple types of relevant data. First, how much is the sea level changing? For the US, you can see the sea level trends at different locations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (for global data see the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level).
For the US, NOAA has a record of tidal flooding at each of its tide gauges, which can be found through the Inundation Dashboard (pick a station, go to its “Inundation History” page, and then choose “Historical Flood Days”). You’ll find a key figure — namely, the threshold above “mean higher high water” — which is the basis by which the agency determines when a high tide flood has occurred in that location.
To determine what’s happening in the present moment or what could happen in the future, familiarize yourself with water levels and tide predictions. (Again: Make sure you set the datum to “mean higher high water” so you can compare with past high tide flood events.)
Remember: Subsidence impacts flooding too. Sea-level rise is a major reason why flooding is more likely to happen today. But the rate of sea-level rise, as measured at NOAA’s tide gauges, also includes the sinking — or rising — of land. Many locations are experiencing subsidence, the gradual sinking of land, for a variety of reasons — some human-driven, some not. Either way, it’s a key part of the picture. Check out the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory as a good data source on subsidence rates in different places where the sea level is measured.
Flooding is very complex. It doesn’t only happen at the coast — and can have more than one cause. It can happen on sunny days along the coast due to the tides. But there’s also “compound flooding,” a phenomenon that could be at play in many events. For instance, at high tides, rivers’ water levels will also be higher where they’re emptying to the sea. This effect can extend well upstream. And if high tides coincide with heavy rains, river water levels near the coast will be higher still, which can cause far worse flooding than tides alone. A similar issue can occur with municipal drainage systems that empty into the sea: They can become clogged with sea water and prevent rainwater from exiting, leaving it on city streets.
Helpful Links
Resources
- Use NOAA’s Coastal Inundation Dashboard to see where flooding is actively occurring and explore past inundation events.
- Examine sea-level rise and coastal flood risks in your community through Climate Central’s Coastal Risk Finder.
- Explore why sea levels are rising and how it is measured globally with resources from NOAA.
Experts
- Kelly Van Baalen, project manager, Climate Central’s Program on Sea Level Rise
- Sönke Dangendorf, assistant professor, Tulane University
- Jianjun Yin, associate professor, University of Arizona
- Experts at NOAA’s National Ocean Service
Before We Go…
The next Locally Sourced will highlight heat action plans. Have you reported about your community’s strategies to mitigate deadly extreme heat? Send them to us at local[at]coveringclimatenow[dot]org. We’d love to consider them for the next edition of Locally Sourced and our media trainings and social platforms.
The Climate Station is a free-of-cost training program from CCNow that equips local TV station newsrooms in the US, including journalists, producers, and meteorologists, to cover climate news more effectively. For inquiries, please email Elena González at elena[at]coveringclimatenow[dot]org. Or apply here.
Want more story ideas? Check out the Locally Sourced archive for more topics to explore, including resilient agriculture, emergency alerts, climate anxiety, and more.
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