Excerpt:
The Massachusetts island anticipates damages of $3.4 billion through 2070 if nothing is done.
It’s no longer unusual to see a kayaker paddling along downtown Easy Street. The cobblestones along the town’s waterfront once were flooded a handful of times a year. That rose to an average of 37 days a year by 2020, according to tide gauge monitors by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The next year, Nantucket began taking steps to beat the tide.
Town and county officials cooperated on a coastal resilience plan in 2021 following an island-wide risk assessment that found four major concerns: groundwater table rise, coastal flooding, high tide flooding and coastal erosion. The 270-page report was more than timely: Easy Street was flooded a record 75 days in 2023.
Leah Hill, the town’s coastal resilience advisory coordinator, said in an email exchange that a smart defense is the best way for the island off Cape Cod to survive. The initial assessment found 2,373 buildings and structures at risk from erosion and flood in the next few decades. Of those buildings, 84 percent are residential and nearly 50 percent are historic, according to the assessment.
