Will Coastal Flooding Harm US GDP?

In a new paper titled “From the Extreme to the Mean: Acceleration and Tipping Points of Coastal Inundation From Sea Level Rise,” the authors report:

Relative sea level rise (RSLR) has driven large increases in annual water level exceedances (duration and frequency) above minor (nuisance level) coastal flooding elevation thresholds established by the National Weather Service (NWS) at U.S. tide gauges over the last half-century. For threshold levels below 0.5 m above high tide, the rates of annual exceedances are accelerating along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts, primarily from evolution of tidal water level distributions to higher elevations impinging on the flood threshold.

Put more simply, the threat of floods and actual flood levels will harm coasts at an accelerating rate. Flooding will claim ever more land as time passes.

ALSO READ: The Best and Worst Run States in America

Maps of the problem are not much different from ones put out by other experts. The New York area has more flood risk than any other city on the East Coast. Additionally, cities on the cost from the Carolinas to northern Florida also carry outsized risk. On the West Coast, the areas around San Francisco and south of Los Angeles face the greatest threat risk.

What could more powerful and more frequent flooding do to the economies of these cities, if recent floods of New York brought on by Hurricane Sandy are any indication? Manhattan and areas for miles around it in New Jersey and Connecticut shuttered businesses. Much of Wall Street was closed for two days. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo remarked that 100-year floods have started to appear every two or three years.

Weather has bitten GDP as recently as early as this year, when harsh storms kept people near home and out of retail outlets. Persistent flooding or permanent erosion could place large commercial and financial districts under water. At least that is what researchers at the NOAA claim.

ALSO READ: Cost of Beef to Soar in U.S.