When an earthquake rips along the Cascadia Subduction Zone fault, much of the U.S. west coast could shake violently for five minutes, and tsunami waves as tall as 100 feet could barrel toward shore. But that’s just the start of the expected horrors.
Even if coastal towns in Northern California, Oregon and Washington withstand that seismic onslaught, new research suggests floodwaters could seep into many of these vulnerable communities for good. That’s because entire coastal shorelines are expected to drop by as much as 6½ feet when the earthquake strikes, according to new research, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Researchers analyzed seismic and flood modeling to produce some of the most detailed estimates of how the Cascadia earthquake would drop — or subside — coastal shorelines and found that it could affect more than double the number of people, structures and roads currently at risk. The effect will also worsen over time, as intensifying climate change raises sea levels further…