These Hurricane Flood Maps Reveal Climate Future For Miami, NYC and DC

"As climate change warms the planet, drives up sea levels and energizes hurricanes, the arsenal of dangerous impacts delivered by the fierce storms is expected to get supercharged.

Among the most worrisome: powerful flooding from storm surge.

Rising seas and stronger winds mean the punishing waves pushed ashore by tropical storms and hurricanes will make their way farther and farther inland. That inland march would expose a larger swath of the U.S. coast to the kind of flooding unleashed during Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, and put more people at risk of drowning, the leading cause of death in hurricanes.

An NPR analysis based on modeling from the National Hurricane Center for three critical regions — New York City, Washington, D.C., and Miami-Dade County — found future sea rise alone could expose about 720,000 more people to flooding in the decades to come."

Jenny Staletovich, Nick Underwood, Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky, Rosemary Misdary, and Jacob Fenston report for NPR July 28, 2022.

 

Source: NPR, 07/28/2022