sea level rise

Floodwater chronically blocks Marin City residents (63% People of Color; 13% below the poverty line) from accessing Highway 101 ramps to enter or leave the city safely.  After years of organizing and getting much needed political support, the Marin City community has secured commitment from the US Army Corps of Engineers to pay the costs of a handful of public works projects to correct the local drainage issues.

The U.S. Navy has acknowledged that in just over a decade, potentially toxic groundwater could surface at a Superfund site at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco. The report comes as the city plans to build thousands of homes, retail, and over 340 acres of parks and open space at a highly complex and ongoing cleanup effort.

A research paper, coauthored by a scientist from the United States Geological Survey, indicates that coastal cities worldwide are subsiding under their own weight. Models show NYC sinking at a rate of 1-4 millimeters/year, parts of Delaware at up to 10 millimeters/year, and more drastically Jakarta, Indonesia sinking at a rate of nearly a foot/year. This is due to multiple factors: extraction of groundwater, composition of underlying soils, and the incredible weight of the built environment. Of course, this is occurring as sea levels are rising which increases flood risk.

What will it cost to protect the Bay Area from sea level rise? Try $110 billion, says state agency. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission have collaborated to develop a cost estimate for adapting to rising sea level in the SF Bay Region. It will not be inexpensive, but the cost of doing nothing is much more. (John King, SF Chronicle)

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission have collaborated to develop a cost estimate for adapting to rising sea level in the SF Bay Region. It will not be inexpensive, but the cost of doing nothing is much more. (John King, SF Chronicle)

A recent article in SFGate highlights the findings from a recent report from CalTrans, predicting that State Route 37 will be permanently underwater by the end of 2040 if significant adaptive measures are not taken.

The latest tool from Climate Central displays just how drastically sea level rise is going to affect cities worldwide.

Picturing Our Future provides a prescient vision of the impacts of keeping business-as-usual with our current GHG emissions, as well as scenarios with drastic cutbacks. 

An article in SFGate highlights the risks that climate change-induced hazards pose to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. In 2019, BART experienced massive systemwide delays due to mechanical problems on a very hot summer day.

A recent interactive article in NPR highlights the threat that rising sea levels are posing to Facebook and Google's multi-billion dollar Silicon Valley campuses, which both companies are continuing to expand.

An interactive article in the San Francisco Chronicle today highlights the North Bay's State Route 37, perhaps the stretch of highway in the Bay Area most threatened by rising sea levels. SR 37 is bellwether for the costly and complex issues the region will face as sea level rise, combined with high tides, already threatens to flood the roadways and nearby farms.