As Coastal Cities Drown, the GOP Denies Reality

Annapolis, Maryland - a scene much like what is commonplace in Norfolk, Virginia

Anyone living in low lying coastal areas of American knows what the GOP refuses to admit: the earth is warming and the sea levels are rising.  In the debate between Mark Warner and GOP challenger Ed Gillespie, who is a climate change denier, Warner suggested that Gillespie visit Norfolk if he wanted to see tangible evidence of what is happening.  Don't expect Gillespie to follow through since the racist/extremist base of the Virginia GOP would be offended.  And for Gillespie, it's all about prostituting himself to those who embrace ignorance and are terrified of modernity.  An article at Climate Central looks at the troubling futures facing a number of American cities.  Here are some highlights:

Coastal American cities are sinking into saturated new realities, new analysis has confirmed. Sea level rise has given a boost to high tides, which are regularly overtopping streets, floorboards and other low-lying areas that had long existed in relatively dehydrated harmony with nearby waterfronts. The trend is projected to worsen sharply in the coming years.

A new report, released by the Union of Concerned Scientists late on Tuesday, forecasts that by 2030, at least 180 floods will strike during high tides every year in Annapolis, Md. In some cases, such flooding will occur twice in a single day, since tides come in and out about two times daily. By 2045, that’s also expected be the case in Washington, D.C., Atlantic City, N.J. and 14 other East Coast and Gulf Coast locations out of 52 analyzed by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“The shock for us was that tidal flooding could become the new normal in the next 15 years; we didn’t think it would be so soon,” said Melanie Fitzpatrick, one of three researchers at the nonprofit who analyzed tide gauge data and sea level projections, producing soused prognoses for scores of coastal Americans. “If you live on a coast and haven’t seen coastal flooding yet, just give it a few years. You will.”

In the absence of flood-deflecting marshes, seawalls or levees, two-thirds of the 52 communities studied can expect a tripling in the frequency of high-tide flooding during the next 15 years, the researchers concluded. Half of the communities studied are expected to be flooded more than two dozen times every year by 2030.

“Impacts from sea level rise are real and now,” said NOAA oceanographer William Sweet, one of the authors of the agency’s June report. “They’re best viewed in terms of an increase of nuisance flood frequencies. These frequencies have risen dramatically over the last several decades, especially along the East Coast and parts of the Gulf Coast.”

Meanwhile, here in Virginia, the Virginia GOP refuses to use the terms "global warming," "climate change" or "rising sea levels" and will only talk about areas of "repetitive flooding."  That head in the sand approach will cost many in Virginia dearly.