Coastal perilsFlood risk denial in U.S. coastal communities
Rising sea levels have worsened the destruction that routine tidal flooding causes in the nation’s coastal communities. On the U.S. mainland, communities in Louisiana, Florida and Maryland are most at risk. Stemming the loss of life and property is a complex problem. Elected officials can enact policies to try to lessen the damage of future flooding. Engineers can retrofit vulnerable buildings. But, in the face of a rising tide, changing hearts and minds might be the most formidable obstacle to decreasing the damage done by flooding.
Rising sea levels have worsened the destruction that routine tidal flooding causes in the nation’s coastal communities. On the U.S. mainland, communities in Louisiana, Florida and Maryland are most at risk.
Stemming the loss of life and property is a complex problem. Elected officials can enact policies to try to lessen the damage of future flooding. Engineers can retrofit vulnerable buildings. But, in the face of a rising tide, changing hearts and minds might be the most formidable obstacle to decreasing the damage done by flooding.
David Casagrande, associate professor of anthropology, is exploring attitudes and perception around flood risk.
“When people’s homes are damaged by flooding year after year and they are offered a buyout, why don’t they leave?” asks Casagrande.
Lehigh says that Casagrande is part of a National Science Foundation-funded, cross-disciplinary team of researchers in anthropology, hydrogeology, and planning from Lehigh, Western Illinois University and the University of California, Davis who are studying impediments to flood mitigation in the Midwest. They are identifying flood-prone locations, key individuals, and intervention strategies that lead to community-based mitigation. Their work indicates that mitigation is most likely to occur soon after a flood, and is most successful when decisions are community-based.
He is also part of a team of researchers from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland and the State of Maryland who are looking at similar issues in Maryland’s Eastern Shore region, an area that is highly vulnerable to current and future coastal hazards. According to the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, the sea level is expected to rise by at least 1.4 feet by 2050 and possibly over 5 feet by 2100.
Casagrande and his colleagues have surveyed residents, as well as conducted in-person interviews and focus groups. He will be presenting some of his findings at the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology (SFAA). This year’s meeting, Philadelphia Sustainable Futures SFAA 2018, will take place in Philadelphia, 3-7 April 2018. Casagrande will present in a session called “Sustainable Futures of Chesapeake Communities Facing Relative Sea-level Rise” on Wednesday, 4 April.
