News Links on Sea Level Rise/Flooding/Adaptation

Adaptation Funding = South Carolina Legislator Proposes “Resilience Revolving Fund” to help remove at-risk homes from the floodplain. This is similar to the Virginia Shoreline Resilience Fund, which was enacted in 2017 with Sen. Lynwood Lewis as the patron. Great idea that needs funding in Virginia and needs to spread to other states - as South Carolina is doing. ARTICLE HERE

Adaptation Funding = Speaking of the Virginia Shoreline Resilience Fund, a recent article points out the need to actually fund it, something people are working on during this session of the General Assembly. ARTICLE HERE.

Nature Based Flood Solutions = Virginia Beach has been hard hit by flooding, especially intense rain events and higher water in the southern part of the city. Development is creeping into these rural areas and making the problems worse. Now the city wants to study how they might start reforesting and strategically preserving undeveloped land to deal with the flooding. A model for other coastal areas to follow. ARTICLE HERE

See as well an article on some of the flooding impacts being experienced in southern Virginia Beach. ARTICLE HERE

Adaptation Action = Many cities in SE Virginia are starting to take action on flooding and sea level rise adaptation. Here is a good review of what the City of Hampton, Virginia is doing. ARTICLE HERE.

Adaptation Action = Speaking of taking action at the local/regional level while waiting for the state and federal governments to act…Hampton Roads in Southeast Virginia issued regional guidance for localities to use in planning for sea level rise. This is one of the few actions of this kind taken in the country. A local official declared, “We are at war,” when the measure was approved. ARTICLE HERE.

Economic Impacts = Very interesting article looking at the impacts of flooding and flood insurance on declining home values in parts of Norfolk. ARTICLE HERE.

Adaptation Policy = While some in Washington (and Richmond for that matter) debate the reality of climate change, coastal Virginia sees that reality and is taking action to deal with it. ARTICLE HERE.

Adaptation Acton = It’s an old article but still current, telling the story of the Virginia Barrier islands and how they just missed becoming another Outer Banks. Storms came to discourage development and today these islands are doing their thing - retreating - and one, Cedar Island, shed its last house. ARTICLE HERE.