84,000 Lives Threatened by Sea Level Rise in New England

A new sea level rise analysis has found that $32 billion in property and 84,000 people are at risk of extreme coastal flooding in five New England states.

As part of its Surging Seas initiative, Climate Central is using data from federal agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey, among many others, to map sea level rise by zip code in an interactive tool that also shows the number of people and the value of the property at risk.

The mapping tool was launched in 2012 for New York, New Jersey and Florida.  Now, data on Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut is also available.  Of the states just added to the map, Connecticut has the highest value of property at risk from coastal flooding — $14.9 billion.  For its part, Massachusetts has about 47,888 people who would be endangered by a four-foot flood. The odds of such a flood occurring in Boston in the next 15 years is 67 percent.  Most at risk are the 17,662 people who are highly vulnerable to flooding because of their social and economic situations.

84,000 Lives Threatened by Sea Level Rise in New England