Flood risk in New York City has increased in recent decades due to human-caused sea level rise and the related storm surge that occurs during cyclones, according to a new study.
Climate change threatens to exacerbate the risk storms pose to the largest city in the United States. [...]
“This is going from something you probably won’t see in your lifetime to something you may see several times in your lifetime,” said Andra Reed, a researcher at Penn State University.
— time.com
According to a report published in the journal PNAS that looked at sediment at different point of the New Jersey shore, before 1800, a flood that rose 7.4 ft above sea level would occur about once every 500 years.
Now – or, more precisely, since 1970 – we can expect a storm like that to hit the Big Apple every 24 years.
Between 850 CE and 1800, there was a slight, natural, and gradual rise in sea levels. But in the last few decades, sea level has risen an average of 2 millimeters per year.
According to Time, "Nearly 90% of that rise has been the result of human activity."
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