A Vulnerable Community Braces for the Impacts of Sea Level Rise – Yale Environment 360
Article Synopsis – Experts warn that the flooding exacerbated by climate change will disproportionately impact low-lying, low-income communities. That’s because, historically, communities of color were often relegated to low-lying, flood-prone lands, whose lower value also made them more affordable to lower-income groups. A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) found that a 5-inch increase in sea level by 2030 would triple the number of high-tide floods in roughly two-thirds of Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastal communities. In poor communities, it might not make economic sense to spend money defending against a rising sea, but South Bridge, Delaware has been fighting back. Working with the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), the community was able to get NOAA to fund a study to plan not only for flood control, but for the community’s economic growth and its part in Wilmington’s future. Now the $24 million South Wilmington Wetlands Park project is about to begin. Under the project, the plumbing will be reengineered, storm and sanitary sewers will be separated, and an urban green space will be installed. However, just a 4-foot rise in sea level would, on an average high tide, leave much of South Wilmington flooded, even with the park project. To read the actual article click here.