Coastal areas of the Southeast as well as most of the rest of the world have seen increased flooding in recent years due to slowly rising sea levels, which are driven by a combination of warmer oceans and melting land ice. While a lot of this flooding has been more of a nuisance than dangerous so far, an increase in flooding leads to damage to infrastructure, loss of business income from stores and restaurants that are closed by flooding, and other economic losses. Now, Nature Climate Change has recently pointed out, a long-term variation in the moon’s orbit around the earth is expected to make flooding worse in the 2030s as high tides will be higher and low tides lower during this part of the 18.6 year cycle. The result could be a significant increase in coastal flooding during that time period. While the flooding won’t be as large as a storm surge from a hurricane, it will cause economic losses and inconveniences and potentially could increase loss of roads and buildings in vulnerable areas. Coastal areas should be preparing now for this increased flooding in the next decade.
