New Climate Change Study for Hampton Roads, VA

The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) recently released a study on Climate Change - their third report in the last three years as part of the Coastal Zone Program grant. The study is a very good one, outlining impacts to the region and proposing some actions moving forward.

For Hampton Roads, depending upon how you calculate flooding impacts, the cost will run between $12 and $87 billion just for properties inundated by the sea level rise we will see in the next century! Add to that between 160 and 870 miles of roads lost in the region, and between 5,000 and 50,800 jobs affected. This is a big impact and this is just the first cut at estimating it.

You can get the text of the report HERE. The maps that accompany the report are large, so we have split them in two segments. Maps of inundation projections for the first 17 quadrangles in Hampton Roads are HERE - the second set of maps is HERE. (be patient - they'll download, honest!)

The report looks at the impacts of a meter of sea level rise and recommends the use of the new US Army Corps of Engineers guidance on sea level rise as a planning tool.

At the same time, the HRPDC approved $80,000 toward a regional digital mapping effort that will give us maps along the coast with 4 inches of vertical elevation! These Lidar maps are essential to accurate models of sea level rise inundation.

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Wetlands Watch

New Climate Change Study for Hampton Roads, VA

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