OCEAN CITY, NJ — Surrounded by both ocean and bay waters, Ocean City is often subject to serious flooding during lunar high tides, heavy rainstorms and hurricanes.
To aid neighborhoods that are vulnerable to severe flooding, city officials put forth a comprehensive flood mitigation plan in December.
The $25 million project includes new drainage systems, berms, pump stations and road construction to prevent flooding in low-lying areas.
"We have groundwater, we have tidal water, we have rain. We got water coming in from every way. We are going to address it timely, and in a manner that's fiscally responsible," Mayor Jay Gillian said during a virtual town hall on Dec. 5, 2020.
A pair of new reports say that flooding will get worse in coastal areas, particularly after 2030 due to a combination of rising sea levels and normal shift in the moon's orbit.
High-tide flooding — also known as sunny day flooding — has become more common after years of rising sea levels, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Coastal communities saw twice as many high-tide flooding days between May 2020 and April 2021 than they did 20 years ago, the NOAA report said.
"The number of high tide flood events is now accelerating at 80 percent of NOAA water level stations along the East and Gulf Coasts," the NOAA report said.
By 2030, there are expected to be 7 to 15 days of high tide events and by 2050, 25 to 75 days — 2-½ months of days, where high tides are enough to flood streets, according to the report.
Starting in the mid-2030s, a combination of rising sea levels with a lunar cycle will cause coastal cities around the U.S. to begin a decade of dramatic increases in flood events, a NASA study said.
The lunar effect is caused by a "wobble" in the moon's orbit that increases high tides for half of its 18.6-year cycle, the NASA report said.
The wobble is a natural occurrence that was first discovered in 1728. However, rising sea levels could amplify the effects of the wobble, according to the report.
With high sea levels pushing all tides higher and the next moon wobble amplifying them, the tides are expected to top flooding thresholds around the country more often, the report said.
"It's the accumulated effect over time that will have an impact," said Phil Thompson, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii and the lead author of the new study, published this month in Nature Climate Change. "If it floods 10 or 15 times a month, a business can't keep operating with its parking lot under water. People lose their jobs because they can't get to work. Seeping cesspools become a public health issue."
Ocean City's flood mitigation plan is the first island-wide project that has addressed the long-term impacts of flooding, according to Suzanne Hornick, founder of the Ocean City, NJ Flooding Committee, a chapter of Higher Ground.
Through the committee's Facebook page, residents, property owners and visitors share their problems as well as photos and videos that document flooding in Ocean City.
The committee also encourages residents to upload their observations on iseechange.org, a program that connects the public and experts on changing environments. Through the app, people can see what other residents around Ocean City are experiencing after a storm.
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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYmh0dHBzOi8vcGF0Y2guY29tL25ldy1qZXJzZXkvb2NlYW5jaXR5L25qLWNvYXN0YWwtZmxvb2RzLXdpbGwtZ2V0LW1vcmUtZnJlcXVlbnQtMjAzMC1ub2FhLW5hc2Etc2F50gFyaHR0cHM6Ly9wYXRjaC5jb20vbmV3LWplcnNleS9vY2VhbmNpdHkvYW1wLzI5NzAxNzIzL25qLWNvYXN0YWwtZmxvb2RzLXdpbGwtZ2V0LW1vcmUtZnJlcXVlbnQtYnktMjAzMC1ub2FhLW5hc2Etc2F5?oc=5
2021-07-20 19:58:05Z
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