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Sea Grant and UGA Help Communities Plan for Sea Level Rise

Georgia Sea Grant, North Carolina Sea Grant and the University of Georgia are launching a project to help St. Marys, Ga. and Hyde County, N.C. plan for sea level rise, increased coastal flooding and intensified storm surges.

Funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the project is part of the National Sea Grant College Program’s nationwide effort to assist communities in preparing for the current and predicted impacts of climate variability and change.

St. Marys, Ga. is one of the most vulnerable cites in Georgia to these impacts. “90 percent of the historic structures in our historic district have their lowest floor elevation located below the current 100-year flood elevation,” said St. Marys Mayor William DeLoughy. “This study will hopefully provide the City—and other historic coastal cities—with guidance in how best to accommodate sea level rise for historic districts and structures.”

Established in 1787, St. Marys is home to valuable historical assets that city officials are keen to protect. The St. Marys Earthkeepers organized a public seminar earlier this year on sea level rise that brought in key city officials and over 120 residents from the community.

As part of the project, Georgia Sea Grant, the Carl Vinson Institute of Government and Marine Extension Service, all Public Service and Outreach units within the University of Georgia, will conduct research and collect information to analyze the costs and benefits for a range of actions designed to reduce vulnerability to climate impacts. This partnership is expanding upon a similar sea level rise adaptation project on Tybee Island, Ga. that received Georgia Trend Magazine’s “Four for the Future Award.”

“Much of Georgia’s shoreline lies just a few feet above sea level,” said Jason Evans, environmental sustainability analyst with the UGA Carl Vinson Institute of Government. “When you combine this with the substantial growth expected in coastal Georgia over the next few decades, you have increasing numbers of people, property, infrastructure and natural systems along the Southeast Atlantic coast likely becoming vulnerable to climate-related risks.”

The project also will address similar climate-related vulnerabilities in Hyde County, N.C. In both locations, the Georgia team will provide expertise in comparing the costs and benefits of adaptation actions, while N.C. Sea Grant will take the lead in developing, through a series of public workshops, detailed assessments of communities’ current and future vulnerabilities. The end result will be resilience and adaptation plans tailored to the needs of each community.

The team intends to link proposed adaption actions with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Community Rating System program, potentially reducing flood insurance rates for local residents as the plans are implemented. Lessons learned in these communities will be shared with other communities in the Southeast and through the National Sea Grant network.