Hurricane Idalia shows nature may provide the best shoreline protection – NPR
!["Living Shoreline" large dome artificial reefs are ready to be positioned off the coast of Florida (by Amanda Nalley, courtesy of Florida Fish and Wildlife https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/ via Flickr).](https://coastalcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/largedomeartificialreef-798x522.webp)
When Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast in August (2023), one of the hardest hit areas was Cedar Key. A nearly 7-foot storm surge battered the small fishing community…(NOAA) says Idalia caused an estimated $3.6 billion in damage…But on Cedar Key, when the water receded, scientists found some good news amid all the damage. Nature-based “living shoreline” projects built to protect roads, buildings and other structures were relatively undamaged…
Here’s How the Next Two Atmospheric Rivers Will Affect California – the New York Times
![On January 31, 2020, a powerful atmospheric river arrived in the Pacific Northwest (Courtesy of CreditCredit...CIRA/CSU & NOAA via the RAMMB-CIRA Satellite Library).](https://coastalcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024-01-31-202401310510-202401311500_g18_fd_airmass_west-coast-ar-arrives_labels-798x449.gif)
A “Pineapple Express” hitting California through Thursday will set the stage for another week of unsettled weather across the state…
Record-setting storm wallops East Coast with flooding, high winds – the Washington Post
![18 December 2023 Satellite imagery of East Coast of the United States (courtesy of NOAA/NESDIS/STAR - GOES-East GEOCOLOR Composite).](https://coastalcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/GOES16-TAW-GEOCOLOR-900x540-1-798x479.gif)
A historically intense December coastal storm is blasting the Northeast on Monday after unleashing heavy rainfall, coastal flooding and high winds from Florida to the Mid-Atlantic. More than 700,000 customers had no power midday Monday as gusts surpassed 60 mph in many locations in eastern New England…
How sea level rise made Idalia’s storm surge worse – the Washington Post
![Geo Color imagery of post-tropical Cyclone Idalia (courtesy of NOAA, public domain).](https://coastalcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20232452310-20232460440-GOES16-ABI-AL102023-GEOCOLOR-1000x1000-1-798x798.gif)
In mid-November 2021, a great storm begins brewing in the central Pacific Ocean north of Hawai‘i. Especially warm water, heated by the sun, steams off the sea surface and funnels into the sky.
A tendril of this floating moisture sweeps eastward across the ocean. It rides the winds for a day until it reaches the coasts of British Columbia and Washington State. There, the storm hits air turbulence, which pushes it into position—straight over British Columbia’s Fraser River valley….
A River Runs above Us – Hakai Magazine
![Atmospheric rivers occur all over the world in this global view from February, 2017. Illustration courtesy of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio - Lead Animator: Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC), VIRRS Suomi NPP natural color image courtesy of NASA/Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen)](https://coastalcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/atriver2160p.00780-798x449.png)
In mid-November 2021, a great storm begins brewing in the central Pacific Ocean north of Hawai‘i. Especially warm water, heated by the sun, steams off the sea surface and funnels into the sky.
A tendril of this floating moisture sweeps eastward across the ocean. It rides the winds for a day until it reaches the coasts of British Columbia and Washington State. There, the storm hits air turbulence, which pushes it into position—straight over British Columbia’s Fraser River valley….
Opinion | Interactive: The Plan to Save New York From the Next Sandy Will Ruin the Waterfront. It Doesn’t Have To – the New York Times
![Animation illustrates the potential effects of anticipated sea level change to coastal communities by 2100 (Courtesy of US Army Corp of Engineers).](https://coastalcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SLR_1-600.gif)
Last September, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers unveiled its proposal to protect the greater New York and New Jersey metro area from the next catastrophic flood. It is an epic plan that includes dozens of miles of floodwalls, levees and berms along the shoreline and 12 storm surge barriers — arrays of movable gates — across entrances to waterways throughout the region.
The plan is estimated to cost a staggering $52.6 billion. It’s by far the most expensive project ever proposed by the Corps.
The trouble is that despite its great ambitions, the Corps’s plan demonstrates the shortcomings of relying on massive shoreline structures for flood protection…