The Front Lines of Climate Change

I have been sitting on this story for a little while till I actually had a chance to read through the whole thing. Often times when people think of climate change they only think of the changes occurring in far away places like the Arctic, Antarctic, Alaska, or Siberia. While the most drastic changes are often seen in these areas according to this article major cities within the continental US are also experiencing the change. Norfolk, VA is experiencing major flooding in portions of the city. While some of this can be attributed to the land sinking, this is what happens when you build on a swamp, for another example of this see New Orleans, not all of the flooding can be because of that.

When Ms. Peck, now 75 and a caretaker to her husband, moved here 40 years ago, tidal flooding was an occasional hazard.

“Last month,” she said recently, “there were eight or nine days the tide was so doggone high it was difficult to drive.”

Norfolk is acting to try to limit the amount of damage that is done by the flood water. This includes raising roads 18 inches and changing storm water drainage to prevent it from backing up. While these are just temporary fixes and will not solve the overall problems associated with climate change they may limit the amount of damage to the city itself. These fixes being put into place now in Norfolk will become more and more common, as the climate continues to warm, throughout the east coast of the United States and in many other places around the world.