LA Times: Rise in sea levels threatens California ports

[marmar]

Rise in sea levels threatens California ports
Because of global warming, ocean levels are expected to increase by 16 inches over the next 40 years, causing flooding and endangering facilities throughout the state.

By Ronald D. White
December 10, 2009


Global warming and a resulting rise in sea levels present a direct threat to the world's seaports -- and many of California's harbors are nowhere near ready, state officials say.

Sea levels in California are expected to increase 16 inches over the next 40 years, causing flooding and endangering facilities throughout the state, according to a report by the California State Lands Commission. By 2100, the ocean could rise as much as 55 inches, the report said.

Most of the 40 ports and shipping hubs surveyed by the state said they were not prepared for the rise in sea levels.

At the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, rising water could damage ground-level facilities and toxic-waste storage sites, said Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, the state's largest.

In Oakland, the site of the state's third-biggest port, higher water could cause flooding and impede the movement of goods on highways and by rail, officials said in response to questions in the survey. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ports-warming10-2009dec10,0,3094074.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fmostviewed+%28L.A.+Times+-+Most+Viewed+Stories%29

[Hekate]

1. KnR. I found a reference to Santa Barbara...

>Santa Barbara officials reported that amount of rise "would basically flood or inundate the entire area, destroying most all facilities as currently constructed."
>snip<
>State Lands Commission officials said ongoing assessments of preparedness would be crucial in the coming years. They noted that the California Climate Change Center has estimated that nearly half a million people, thousands of miles of roads and railways, and major ports, airports, power plants and wastewater treatment plants are at risk if a 55-inch rise in sea level is combined with a once-in-100-years flood event.
>snip<

Santa Barbara's port is not huge like the other ones mentioned, but it is busy with pleasure boats and commercial fishing. And of course, there's the city that surrounds it.

I'm next door in Goleta, and over the last several years have tried to figure out how much of my own town is going to be underwater. Ultimately it will probably be more about access and infrastructure than about specific houses that go under. As far as I can determine, our main access routes to the Central Coast are likely to be breached: as the La Conchita landslides and the Painted Cave Fire demonstrated so graphically, US 101 parallels the train tracks and the main surface streets, and those can be pinched off all at once by a disaster. Around La Conchita (south of us in Ventura County) the train tracks and 101 run right next to the beach.

As I am now just over 60 I will probably not be around for most of this, but a big storm surge caused by global warming could do as much damage in the interim. And I would like to apologize in advance to my grandkids.

Hekate