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Climate Resiliency on Block Island
You may have noticed it—flooded roads after storms, disappearing dunes, or high tides creeping a little farther inland than they used to. Block Island is changing, and sea level rise is one of the biggest forces behind it.
In the graph on the right, you can see the projected wave crest elevations (the highest point of the wave) compared to the beach, dune and road elevations at Town Beach. The colored lines show projected elevations for different storm recurrence intervals, including actual data from Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
It is important to note that data show these strong storms recurring more often than they did previously -- a storm that currently occurs once in every 5 years will be a 2- year storm event by 2050 and a yearly storm event by 2070.
Graph shared by GZA GeoEnvironmental at the Coastal Resilience Committee Meeting. Click the graph above to view this presentation in its entirety.
The Town of New Shoreham is working with the community to make Block Island more resilient—through ongoing projects and thoughtful planning for the changes ahead. This map offers a closer look at the island’s climate hotspots—places where changes are already visible, and where we can start to understand what’s at stake.
Recognizing the severity of these impacts, the town formed the Sea Level Rise Committee in 2022, which recently changed their name to the Coastal Resilience Committee to broaden their scope of work. The mission of the Coastal Resilience Committee is to gather current scientific data and build on community knowledge to advise the town on priority actions that will improve Block Island’s coastal resiliency by understanding the potential threats to the island posed by sea level rise and climate change, regularly engaging with the community to collect input and conduct outreach, and evaluating and recommending opportunities for adaptation and mitigation.
Join us in our growing effort to make Block Island more resilient to changes in the climate! The Coastal Resilience Committee meets at 3pm on the first Tuesday of each month at Town Hall and the schedules, agendas and meeting minutes are posted on New Shoreham, RI - ClerkBase.
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