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+**Climate change causes floods, natural disasters, and puts homes underwater**
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+*   [National Ocean Service](https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sealevelclimate.html)
+    *   Why Climate change effects sea levels
+        *   oceans warm due to an increasing global temperature, causing seawater to expand and take up more space in the ocean basin and causing a rise in water level.
+        *   melting of ice over land, which adds water to the ocean.
+*   [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Lindsey 18](https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-sea-level)
+    *   _“The rising water level is mostly due to a combination of **meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets** and **thermal expansion** of seawater as it warms.”_
+    *   <span style="text-decoration:underline;">Scope:</span> In the United States, almost **40 percent of the population **lives in relatively high population-density** coastal areas**, where sea level plays a role in flooding, shoreline erosion, and hazards from storms.
+        *   Globally, **8 of the world’s 10 largest cities** are **near a coast**, according to the U.N. Atlas of the Oceans.
+    *   Sea levels have been **continuously rising** and put these areas under threat:
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+![](https://github.com/NB419/source-library/blob/master/images/climate-sea%20level.png?raw=true)
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+*   [Climate Central Executive Report: Strauss  et al. 12](http://slr.s3.amazonaws.com/SurgingSeas.pdf)
+    *   Climate change sea level impact
+        *   raised sea level about **eight inches** since 1880
+        *    the rate of rise is accelerating
+        *   Scientists expect **20 to 80 more inches** this century, a lot depending upon how much more heat-trapping pollution humanity puts into the sky
+        *   This study makes mid-range projections of **1 to 8 inches** by 2030, and **4 to 19 inches** by 2050, depending upon location across the contiguous 48 states.
+    *   Climate change flooding impact
+        *   Rising seas **dramatically increase the odds of damaging floods** from storm surges.
+        *   For more than two-thirds of the locations analyzed (and for 85% of sites outside the Gulf of Mexico), past and future global warming more than **doubles t**he estimated odds of “century” or worse floods occurring within the next **18 years**
+    *   Impact on homes
+        *   At three quarters of the 55 sites analyzed, century levels are higher than 4 feet above the high tide line.
+        *   Across the country nearly 5 million people live in 2.6 million homes at less than 4 feet above high tide.
+        *   In 285 cities and towns, more than half the population lives on land below this line, potential victims of increasingly likely climate-induced coastal flooding.
+        *   3.7 million live less than 1 meter above the tide.
+        *   About half of this exposed population, and eight of the top 10 cities, are in the state of Florida. About $30 billion in taxable property is vulnerable below the three-foot line in just three counties in southeast Florida.