More than 13M Americans at Risk of Flooding Due to Rising Sea Levels
Millions of Americans may have to find a home on a higher ground if they want to prevent being flooded due to rising sea levels. The number of people living by the coastline are projected to be three times more than than numbers projected earlier, reveals the study published in science journal, Nature Climate Change
The study warns that if the protective measures are not implemented soon enough, millions of Americans would be displaced and would lead to mass migration, similar to the Great Migration of African Americans in 20th Century.
"We've been underestimating what those potential impacts could be," said Mathew Hauer, applied demographer at University of Georgia, Athens, doctoral candidate in geography department of the school and the study co-author.
Needless to say, the rise in sea levels has been attributed to climate change that are posing a serious threat to some of the island nations of the world. Scientists predict that islands such as Maldives will perish under water by the end of this century.
According to Hauer, the conventional method of evaluating the impact of rising sea level is to study the existing infrastructure and current population. However, his study also takes the population growth into account.
"Coastal communities are among some of the most rapidly growing in the United States, so we have to think about the anticipated expansion of those populations that is likely to occur in this century," Hauer said.
As per their findings, if the increase in sea level by the end of 2100 reaches 35.4 inches, as many as 4.2 million people in U.S. coastal areas may be under direct threat of being flooded. However, if this number were to reach 70.9 inches, projected by NOAA at a higher end, the number of people affected will reach 13.1 million.
