Planning for Sea Level Rise before and after a Coastal Disaster
Permanent Link:

Material Information

Title:
Planning for Sea Level Rise before and after a Coastal Disaster
Series Title:
Planning Before and After a Coastal Disaster
Creator:
Titus, James G.
Publication Date:
Language:
English

Notes

Scope and Content:
Ocean beach resorts in the United States have always faced erosion and storm damage. At first, these risks were accepted as inevitable. Development was generally sparse, and people often built relatively inexpensive cottages along the ocean that they could afford to lose. When the occasional severe storm destroyed these houses and eroded the beach, replacement structures were frequently built farther inland to maintain the original distance from the shore.1 After World War II, beaches became more popular and were developed more densely than before. The resulting increases in real estate values enabled greater numbers of communities to justify expensive engineering solutions to maintain their shorelines. Frequently subsidized by the federal government, the practice of stabilizing shorelines replaced the previous custom of accepting erosion as inevitable. The projected rise in sea level poses a fundamental question: how long should these communities hold back the sea? In the decades ahead, the costs of shoreline protection will rise dramatically and the relative efficiencies of various measures will change. But without such efforts, a 1 ft rise would erode most shorelines over 100 ft, threatening recreational use of both beaches and adjacent houses. Even under the low scenario, this could happen by 2025. Although sea level is not expected to rise rapidly until after 2000, resort communities may have to consider its consequences much sooner. After the next major storm, in particular, homeowners whose properties are destroyed will decide whether and how to rebuild; and local governments will decide whether or not to let all of them rebuild, and which options are appropriate to address the storm-induced erosion. How well a community ultimately adapts to sea level rise will depend largely on the direction it takes when it reaches this crossroads. This chapter examines the impact of sea level rise on the decisions that must be made before and after a coastal disaster. We first sketch the impact of sea level rise on coastal resorts, as well as the implications of recent federal policy changes. Using Sullivans Island, South Carolina (part of the Charleston study area) as an example, we discuss the impact of sea level rise on property owners' decisions on whether to rebuild if a storm happens to destroy their oceanfront houses in 1990. We then discuss the community's interest in this individual decision, as well as other decisions facing local governments. We conclude by discussing several policy changes that would enable coastal communities to better prepare for a rising sea.

Record Information

Source Institution:
Florida International University
Rights Management:
Please contact the owning institution for licensing and permissions. It is the user's responsibility to ensure use does not violate any third party rights.

dpSobek Membership

Aggregations:
Sea Level Rise