Report: These US cities could be underwater by 2050
The US is facing dangerous flood risks across multiple cities which could arrive before 2050. Sinking ground and rising sea levels will put more than half a million people at risk across the coastal cities. If nothing is done to mitigate this risk of these cities including New York, Boston, San Francisco and Miami then the deluges could cause $107 billion in damages by 2050. Around 30 percent of the US population lives in cities along the coast, where sea levels are expected to rise up to 1 foot by 2050.
But while previous flooding forecasts have taken this upsurge into account, they do not factor in the alarming rate at which many cities are sinking. In May, scientists announced New York may be sinking under the weight of its own buildings, with 1.68 trillion pounds pushing down on the ground beneath. Now, a new study has revealed Chicago is also sinking but in this case, “underground climate change” is to blame. While the Windy City’s buildings aren’t about to start falling down, the findings shed light on the challenges the city of 2.7 million people will face in the coming decades.
Since the 20th century, climate change has been melting glaciers and heating ocean water, which makes the water expand, causing sea levels to rise at about 0.13 inch (3.4 millimeters) per year in the last three decades. Yet at the same time, the land in coastal areas is also sinking due to a perfect storm of factors: metropolises are growing taller and heavier; coastal land is shifting downward after the end of the last ice age; and gas, water and other materials have been lifted en masse from below ground, hollowing out the land beneath cities.
If no future steps are taken, 1 in 50 people living in 280,000 properties along U.S. coasts, will be affected. A disproportionate share of the damages will also be shouldered by minority and low-income groups. To avoid this, the U.S. will need to limit the extraction of natural gas and groundwater to prevent additional subsidence, as well as strengthening coastal defenses.
Subsidence isn’t just a problem for the U.S., sinking land due to groundwater extraction is expected to affect 19% of the world’s population by 2040, and humans have even pumped enough water to change Earth’s tilt. In Indonesia, the government has announced it will move its capital from Jakarta (home to 11 million people) to Borneo after the mega-city sank more than 8 feet (2.5 m) in the last decade.
