Nearly 400,000 homes in the United States will be either permanently inundated by sea level rise or suffer chronic flooding from higher tides and storm surges by 2050 if nations fail to make significant cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new analysis by the real estate company Zillow and Climate Central. That number could grow to 2.5 million homes — worth $1.3 trillion, equal to 6 percent of the U.S. economy — by 2100 if emissions remain unchecked.
Nearly 400,000 homes in the United States will be either permanently inundated by sea level rise or suffer chronic flooding from higher tides and storm surges by 2050 if nations fail to make significant cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new analysis by the real estate company Zillow and Climate Central. That number could grow to 2.5 million homes — worth $1.3 trillion, equal to 6 percent of the U.S. economy — by 2100 if emissions remain unchecked.
Among the nation’s 150 most-populous cities, Galveston, Texas and Miami Beach, Florida are projected to have the largest share of homes in risk zones by 2050, at 13.1 percent and 10.8 percent, respectively, if emissions go unmitigated, according to Zillow. That’s within the lifetime of a typical 30-year mortgage signed in the next couple years.
The analysis, which combined Zillow’s housing data with Climate Central’s sea level rise and flooding maps, found that moderate emissions reductions roughly in line with Paris agreement pledges would reduce those numbers by 10 percent.
Read more at Yale Environment 360
Image: Aerial views of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy to the New Jersey coast, October 30, 2012. (Credit: U.S. AIR FORCE/MARK C. OLSEN)
