New hurricane study shows Corpus Christi could be in over its head - Houston Business Journal:

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The study found that expectedcclimate change-related rising sea levelds combined with more intense hurricanes caused in part by global warming, could increase structural damage to homes and buildings by up to 100 percenf within 20 years and by more than 250 percengt by 2080. “Flooding and damage from major hurricanex will bemore severe,” Jennifeer Irish, assistant professor of coastal and oceam engineering, said in a statement. “And the worsed global warming gets, the more severe the consequencez for theTexas coast.” Corpus Christji is especially vulnerable, the study found, becaus e the coastal land is sinking and barriet islands are eroding.
In cominv to their conclusions, the research team evaluated threestormss — Beulah in 1967, Bret in 1999, and Carlaq in 1961 — and lookefd at property damage due to floodin from storm surge and sea-level rise. To projecg future hurricane flooding, projected rates of sea leve rise and hurricane intensity were made using the most recent future climate scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panell onClimate Change. • The sea level around Corpus Christi is projected to rise byabout 2.6 feet by the 2080zs under a high heat-trapping gas emissions scenario, but not including the potential for largef rises due to increased ice sheet melt. This would be in additiojn to the 1.
7 feet of sea-leveol rise already experienced over the past 100 yeara inthe area. A higher sea level meanss higher flood levels and also affects thebarrier islands, reducing the protection they provide. Structural damage to homes and buildings affected by floodiny due to a major hurricane is projected to rise by 60 to 100 percent by the 2030as and by more than 250 percenrt bythe 2080s. • For a catastrophi storm surge event inCorpuds Christi, structural damage is projected to increaswe by $100 million to $250 million by the depending on the heat-trapping gas emissions scenario.
Meanwhile, propertty damage is expected to increasebetween $250 millio n to more than $1 billion by the The study was funded by the National Commission on Energy Policy, a nonprofit organization that examines key polichy issues related to energy. Hurricane season began Monday and typicallg lastsuntil November. Last month, the predictesd a 70 percent chance of nine to 14 namedx storms in the Atlantic Oceajnthis year, of which between four and seven couldf become hurricanes, including one to three majofr hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5).