A new engineering report presented to Sanibel City Council warns that sea levels could rise over 2 feet by 2070, potentially bringing storm surges of over 5 feet to the island every two years.
Watch as Sanibel Community Correspondent, Anvar Ruziev, reports from the Lighthouse Beach Park Shoreline:
Sanibel faces rising sea levels, potential flooding every two years by 2070
Johnson Engineering presented diagrams showing potential surge flooding that could occur every two years now compared to what it would look like in 2070. The darker blue areas on the maps indicate deeper water.
“I do want to emphasize, that surge management is something that we don’t have the ability to manage, stormwater management we can manage. And I think that it is managed well,” Dana Souza, Sanibel Town Manager said.
In what presenters called a “worst case sea level rise” scenario, a storm surge of over 5 feet will hit the island every two years. For comparison, that’s what Sanibel experienced with both Hurricanes Helene and Milton last year…