Coastal flooding on the rise in North Carolina, new climate data shows
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- As we head into hurricane season, new data is shining light on how climate change is impacting everything from heat to stronger storms and flooding, creating a tough situation along Carolina's coast.
Just this week, another home fell into the ocean the in Rodanthe in the Outer Banks.
Inside the State Climate Office at NC State, Dr. Kathie Dello and her team are constantly trying to stay ahead of the game, tracking climate trends not just during hurricane season but year-round.
"The oceans are rising. We know that a warmer ocean is just bigger warmer waters, and because of climate change, the ocean's taking up more space. And we can see that on the North Carolina coast, there's water in places that there wasn't before," Dello said.
New data from Climate Central Annual Coastal Flood Risk analyzed by the ABC11 data team shows what's at stake. Taking a look at the quickest beach town to get to from the Triangle, there's a 54 percent chance in the next decade that flood waters could rise 2 feet above high tide in the Wilmington area. That change would affect much of the coast.
There's a smaller 4 percent chance of a 3-foot rise, but that extra foot makes a significant difference. By that point, most of the islands off Wilmington including Wrightsville Beach would be mostly underwater.
There's more of an outside chance, just 1 percent of a 4-foot rise, which would create even more drastic problems.
The danger for flood risk isn't just when there's a storm moving through.
"We're also seeing more instances of what we call sunny day or tidal flooding. So it might be a perfectly beautiful day outside, but we're seeing water on the roads because just the tide level has increased that much because the sea level has increased," Dello said.
The latest home collapse is the sixth such collapse in the Outer Banks in just the last 4 years.
Dello said moving forward, we may need to rethink where we build homes -- taking into account potential flooding problems.
"We have to think about smart building. Where should we be building? We have more people moving to North Carolina. We need to keep them out of places that are flooding or may be exposed to extreme heat," she said.
Since Hurricane Floyd in the 90s, there have been some buyouts of homes in danger of collapse in North Carolina. But that can be difficult when you have families who have lived in coastal communities for generations.
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