Map Tool Gives Grim Look at Sea Level and Flood Impact on Coastal Areas

Many of the lowest-lying coastal areas of the Southeastern United States, including some heavily populated parts of Florida, will be subject to increased annual flooding in less than 30 years, according to scenarios mapped by a climate research organization.

Under one scenario that models continued increases in global carbon emissions, along with major flooding from rainfall and some bad luck thrown into the mix, most of Miami Beach and parts of Hollywood, St. Petersburg, Florida, along with much of Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, will see more frequent flood events by 2050, according to Climate Central’s Coastal Risk Screening Tool.

Almost all of the southern tip of Florida, now home to Everglades National Park, will be flooded, the computer simulation shows. By 2100, standing water will reach into parts of Miami, big stretches of Fort Lauderdale and miles and miles of Florida’s east coast.

The tool allows users to look at any spot on Earth at different decades in the future, and under different conditions. Under what the organization calls the most likely scenario, with current trend lines on atmospheric warming, rainfall and rising seas, using peer-reviewed data sources, the floodwaters may be coming sooner than other research had projected.

The interactive map website can be accessed here. Hitting the refresh button on the web browser may be required. A tutorial is available on the site.

Climate Central calls itself an independent, non-profit group of scientists who study and report on climate change. The maps are among the latest research from the group and from others that predict some of the grim outcomes of unchecked changes from human-made carbon emissions.

It has been estimated that fewer than 20% of Floridians in vulnerable areas now carry flood insurance. That number is expected to rise in the next year thanks to legislation that requires most property owners covered by Citizens Property Insurance to also obtain flood coverage.

Top photo: Climate Central map showing sea level rise for the year 2050, under one scenario.