<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 One of the most comprehensive studies of flood risk ever finds that more than 17 million people along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts are most at risk of being affected by flooding, especially New York and New Orleans.<\/p>\n
Researchers at the University of Alabama used 16 different factors, including geographic hazards, exposed populations and infrastructure, and the vulnerability of the people living there. It then pulled historical damage data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s database and applied three different artificial intelligence tools to understand flood risk from Texas to Maine, calculating that 17.5 million people were at “very high” risk and another 17 million at the next level of “high” risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The authors looked at floods of all sizes, and individually looked at what FEMA considers the most extreme floods, or the top 1% of events. The study found that 4.3 million people along the coast were at the highest risk of extreme flooding, while 20.5 million were at the second highest risk.<\/p>\n
They found a number of vulnerabilities, highlighting eight different cities, from Houston flooded by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 to New York flooded by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances found that New York City has 4.75 million people at the two highest risk levels for any flooding, and more than 200,000 buildings could be damaged.<\/p>\n
And while the number of people at risk in New Orleans is much smaller, about 380,000, 99% of the city’s population has been infected. That doesn’t mean 99% of people will be affected by the next hurricane or non-tropical flood, and it could depend on the storm’s individual path and rain patterns, said study co-author Wangyun Xiao, a climate scientist at the University of Alabama.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at its size,\u201d Mr. Hsiao said. \u201cThese numbers are shocking and alarming.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“When the next big storm hits New York City, when the next hurricane like Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, people are going to be hurt, especially the most vulnerable,” Hsiao said, referring to the poor, the elderly, children and the less educated.<\/p>\n
Hsiao and outside experts said they were stunned by the numbers, even though they were well aware of the worsening effects of climate change.<\/p>\n
“New York is known to be the most flood-prone city and has the highest population, but the fact that New York is exposed to nearly an order of magnitude more people than any other city is surprising,” said Alex de Cherbinin, a geographer who directs Columbia University’s Center for Integrated Earth System Information. He was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Studies show that flooding problems are becoming more frequent in New York and New Orleans due to human-induced climate change.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville has 679,000 people at high or very high risk of flooding, while Houston is a little behind with just under 600,000. Other cities highlighted include Miami, Norfolk, Virginia, Charleston, South Carolina, and Mobile, Alabama.<\/p>\n
Hsiao and outside experts said what sets her study apart from others is the complete comprehensiveness of all factors considered, such as subsidence of land and pavements that prevent water from seeping into the ground, as well as incorporating human social vulnerabilities such as poverty and age.<\/p>\n
“This may have applications in other parts of the world, such as Manila,” said Venkataraman Lakshmi, a University of Virginia engineering professor and head of the American Geophysical Union’s hydrology division, referring to the Philippine capital. Although he was not involved in the study, he said the flooding problems highlighted in the study will become more frequent and severe in the future due to human-induced climate change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Marco Tedesco of Columbia University, who was not involved in the study, said, “Future flood disasters are not just about water; they confirm important concepts about where people live, how cities are built, and who is least protected.”<\/p>\n
“Analysis of flood risk factors is important for local planners, emergency managers, and even highway crews and utilities. We all know that low-lying areas are at higher risk of flooding, but the data they collect provides more insight into flood risk, especially flash flooding.”<\/p>\n
The study’s lead author, geospatial scientist Hemal Dey, said he wants local authorities to look beyond building dams and levees to improving natural infrastructure such as wetlands, grasslands, rain gardens and estuaries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“This study definitely confirms what emergency managers have been saying for years, which real estate agents will not like,” said former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, who was not involved in the study. “The harder question is what are we actually going to do about this problem?”<\/p>\n
___<\/em><\/p>\n Associated Press climate and environment reporting receives funding from several private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP<\/em> standard<\/em> Please see below for our philanthropic efforts, list of supporters and areas funded.<\/em> AP.org<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n #study #finds #alarming #high #flood #risk #million #Americans #Atlantic #Gulf #coasts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 One of the most comprehensive studies of flood risk ever finds that more than 17 million people along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts are most at risk of being affected by flooding, especially New York and New Orleans. Researchers at the University of Alabama used 16 different factors, including geographic hazards, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2384,2385,2386,2387,517,747,1819,1946,774,858,402],"class_list":["post-973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-alarming","tag-americans","tag-atlantic","tag-coasts","tag-finds","tag-flood","tag-gulf","tag-high","tag-million","tag-risk","tag-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}