If current greenhouse gas discharge ( GHG ) trend continue , scientist warn that ocean level rise will flood more than 300,000 coastal dwelling over the next three decades , totaling $ 136 billion in terms .
found onfederal datacompiled by the Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ) , a newreportprojects what coastal communities will attend like in the next 30 years , and again at the death of the century . With emissions scantily constrained as they presently are , the UCS forecast 311,000 home will be chronically flooded by a 0.6 - time ( 2 - ft ) sea level rise by 2045 . This style hasten at the end of the century , with as many as 2.4 million homes ( deserving about $ 1 trillion ) at peril . Low - lying states in special are at risk , with as many as 1 million home in Florida , 250,000 in New Jersey , and 143,000 home in New York at risk of exposure of inundation by a 2 - beat ( 6.5 - foot ) rise in sea level by 2100 .
“ The impact could well be astounding , ” Kristina Dahl , a senior climate scientist at UCS , toldThe Guardian . “ This level of flooding would be a tipping head where people in these communities would think it ’s unsustainable .
“ Even homes along the Gulf coast that are raise would be involve , as they ’d have to drive through salt water to get to work or confront their kids ’ school being cut off . you could imagine hoi polloi walk off from mortgages , forth from their home . ”
Financial and emotional tolls away , expert say inveterate flooding will upset the housing market , raise flood lamp insurance premiums , and place a burden on people who have to decide whether to stay on and renovate their domicile or move to eminent , less - prone area .
The report looks strictly at sea level rise in the face of climate change and does not factor out in flooding that take place from major storms . Even the most conservative analytic thinking bear witness a sea level rise of 0.3 m ( 1 substructure ) affecting 140,000 rest home by 2045 , and a 1.2 - meter ( 4 - groundwork ) rise pretend 1.2 million by 2100 . On the hopeful side , the mathematical function also suggests the potential power we have to mitigate GHG . If activeness are assume today , as many as 2 million family esteem at $ 782 billion could be spared .
Whether there ’s cause to be affirmative or not remains to be seen . Each year,200 billion tonnesof frappe from Antarctica is being deck into the ocean , contributing to a half - a - mm annual rise . As sea level bear on to rise more and more , people will flock to landlocked areas ; previousresearchsuggests as many as 13 million Americans will demand to move by the end of the hundred .
[ H / T : The Guardian ]