Despite Warnings, States in Florence’s Path Continued Coastal Development
As Hurricane Florence rages on the Carolina coast, scientists say they've been trying to warn state leaders for years that climate change could have devastating effects on the fragile coastline.
With the hurricane expected to wreak havoc, officials ordered the evacuation of more than a million people.
Despite their vulnerability to both climate change and hurricanes, North and
That report was targeted by the Legislature and NC-20, an economic development group for
"The new Legislature, along with this NC-20 group, thought this report would kill off tourists and kill our coastal economies and convinced them to throw it in the trash, which they did," said
When the commission redid the report five years later, it looked 30 years ahead instead of 90, warning legislators the state needed to prepare for up to a 6-inch sea level rise based on existing gauge rates.
That controversy followed other efforts by lawmakers that drew less notice but also have affected the coastline's resiliency.
As Hurricane Florence approached the
The
The law came in response to building restrictions proposed by the state
Surfrider nicked
A report from the
But it's coastal development that has Pilkey most concerned.
"This time of urban renewal at the time of sea level rise is nothing short of madness," he said. "Past hurricanes in the Carolinas, especially here [in
Pilkey said the shorter timetable of the 2015 report helps greenlight roads and structures that will outlast the report's 30-year time frame but that are unlikely to outlast encroaching waters.
But
Though 30-year predictions are more accurate than longer-term ones, she said, most plans for residential and commercial building and new infrastructure will outlast that timetable.
"A lot of those infrastructure-based services have to look past 30 years," Whitehead said. "And if you build a house now, it's probably going to be there in 30 years, it's just going to take 30 years to pay off."
Riggs said despite his displeasure with the Legislature's decision after the first report, he stayed on to work on the second report to make sure it was scientifically sound. But he criticized development on an unstable set of barrier islands.
"We let development go on as if this is
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