Rotarians hear how sea-level rise will impact coastal communities

Last October, a report on sea-level rise titled, “Encroaching tides: How sea-level rise and tidal flooding threaten U.S. coastal communities over the next 30 years,” warned how sea-level rise will continue to threaten coastal communities in the future.

Erika Spanger-Siegfried, a senior analyst with the Climate and Energy Program, gave a report of the findings to the Lewes-Rehoboth Rotary Club. She and her team have been traveling to coastal towns to spread the word and enlist support.

“Communities in the Mid-Atlantic are a real hot spot because they are dealing with two main issues. What you have here is called subsidence, which is the combination of rising oceans and sinking land,“ said Spanger-Siegfried.

Temperatures have risen 1.5 degrees since the 1800s, causing ice to melt. Since warmer water expands, it has caused oceans to become more voluminous, which has led to increased tidal flooding. Tidal flooding is disruptive to communities, as she showed in a series of photos of tidal flooding in the Lewes-Rehoboth area.

“Rotarians here are invested in their community,” said Spanger-Siegfried. “They are local leaders. It would be great for them to start talking about this issue. It would be better to make sea-level rise one of their areas of focus and to join the town of Lewes in their efforts to address sea-level rise.”

She also listed some steps Lewes and other coastal communities could take immediately to prepare for rising seas. “The first is to upgrade infrastructure. The second is to stop building in flood areas and, third, take a long-term approach to this problem.”