Rising water levels will engulf New Orleans, study says
· Toronto Sun
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New Orleans is sinking and you’re not gonna swim, a new study says.
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Louisiana’s biggest city has reached a “point of no return” and could be surrounded by the ocean within a few decades due to climate change, according to a study in the journal Nature Sustainability , adding that city residents should start relocating now.
Rising sea levels are a major threat to the Crescent City, which sits in a basin mostly below sea level. The city is surrounded by south Louisiana’s coastal wetlands that reduce the impact of heavy storms and hurricanes. Those wetlands are under threat from human activity, however, as people drain them for developments and build canals for the oil and gas industry. The U.S. Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority says that Louisiana has lost nearly 2,000 square miles of land since the 1930s and could lose another 3,000 over the next 50 years if no action is taken and could cause and average of $15.2 billion annually in flood damages.
“Given the importance of so many of south Louisiana’s assets — our waterways, natural resources, unique culture, and wetlands — the effects of this additional land loss and the increased risk of flooding would be catastrophic. We must take bold action now before it’s too late,” the group said.
People already leaving: Study author
According to Brianna Castro, one of the authors of the study and a professor of urban sustainability at Yale, New Orleanians are already leaving town. Since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005, killing almost 1,400 people, the city has lost about 25% of its population, and every major storm since then has prompted a spike in departures, she said. Billions have already been spent to improve the city’s levees, floodgates and pumps after Katrina, but the paper says it’s unlikely that will be enough to save the city in the decades to come.
There could also be a social impact, particularly for the city’s poor, the study argues. A chaotic relocation would erode the tax base, leading to worsening social services and rising insurance premiums, if insurers want to even continue to cover potential flood losses there.
“If the writing is on the wall that we need to go eventually, do we want to wait until people’s resources are exhausted and there’s a crisis?” Castro said.