As a result of climate change, sea levels are rising and flooding is getting worse in some parts of California. However, the state is still not as at risk as other coastal areas of the country.
Researchers at the non-profit Climate Central made the map, which uses advanced modeling to show which places might be at risk of flooding by 2050.
It looks like most of California’s shore is safe, but the northern part of the San Francisco Bay Area would be hit the hardest.
The low-lying places around San Pablo Bay, like Vallejo, would be hit the hardest. So would the areas above it, around the Napa River, and up to Petaluma.
It would also flood the coastal areas around Suisun and Grizzly Bays, mostly the marshes and wildlife refuges.
San Francisco itself would not be harmed much, but water could get into the city’s airport and the area north of the Oakland Airport.
Because the sea level is rising, some places west of Stockton could also have floods.
A few small areas on the coast of Orange County and near the port in Long Beach are affected, but most of Los Angeles and the nearby areas don’t seem to be.
Unlike Florida and other states that are more likely to flood, California’s low-lying inland places seem to be more at risk from rising sea levels and flooding than the coast.
California is also safe because it has a lot of seawalls and levees. These include walls made of concrete or other materials, as well as levees that can be made from things like rocks and dirt.
The interactive map by Climate Central shows protective structures like levees, natural hills, and other features in black. There are a lot of these in the area around San Francisco Bay.
When you choose to include at-risk areas that aren’t already protected by these buildings, a lot more areas on the map turn red, which means they will be flooded.
If these measures aren’t taken, much of the land around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the areas between Sacramento and Stockton will be below water by 2050.
Without the levees, the water would flood around San Francisco Bay. If you look at the map with the levees, some of these places would still be affected, but not as much.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that by 2050, the sea level along the U.S. shoreline will have risen by an average of 10 to 12 inches. That’s the same rise that was seen over the last 100 years, from 1920 to 2020.
People who live on low-lying coastal land, like at river mouths, are already more likely to flood because the sea level has risen 20 to 40 centimeters (7.9 to 15.7 inches) along the U.S. beaches in the last few decades. Peter Girard, a spokesman for Climate Central, told Newsweek that as water levels continue to rise, the worst effects will be felt in their towns.
