Government authorities in California warn that climate change could cause water levels in the ocean to rise more than has been previously predicted – the sea level could go up by as much as 10 feet by the end of this century.
This prediction would cause severe damage, including swamping airports in San Francisco and Oakland, and would flood roads, low bridges, railroad tracks, beaches, farmland, and some town. Around 42,000 houses would go underwater, a report released by the California Ocean Protection Council states, Huffington Post reports.
On Wednesday, the COPC allowed higher sea-level estimates in its report. This follows the governor of Louisiana’s declaring that its state vanishing coastline needs attention. In the next 50 years, Louisiana could lose as much as 2,250 square miles due to the rising water, Governor John Bel Edwards said.
Without immediate action, an individual study by the US Geological Survey says that these rising sea levels would mean wiping out around 67% of Southern California’s coast by 2100.
The Golden State has some of the country’s strictest anti-pollution laws, yet its coastline is vulnerable to climate change, particularly due to the melting ice caps in the Antarctic and Greenland. “For every foot of global sea-level rise caused by the loss of ice on West Antarctica, sea-level will rise approximately 1.25 feet along the California coast,” the researchers said.
Ice sheets in the Antarctic and Greenland are both melting at an incredible speed.
Miami is on the list of places where the sea level would rapidly rise, causing over 2.5 million Miami residents to be driven home in the future.
Current US policies are not likely to curb fossil fuel use and emissions under Donald Trump, as he believes climate change is a “hoax.” In addition, Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt said he is unsure on whether humans or carbon dioxide are the primary factors driving global warming.
