Sunny-day flooding in Somerset County. Photo courtesy The Nature Conservancy.
As a child, I spent many summers on the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland making many of my earliest memories; learning to clam, waiting on the fishing docks for the watermen to return with their bounties so we could get jimmy crabs, visiting Smith Island and watching the skipjack races at Deal Island, and learning the unique culture and history– a treasure of the Eastern Shore.
As a resident of the Delmarva Peninsula and executive director of Sentinels of Eastern Shore Health , I have seen firsthand how flooding hurts our communities and the livelihoods of people who live in them. Flooding and sea-level rise are affecting millions of Marylanders, and our state needs to invest more to help our communities adapt and survive.
I’ve personally watched flooding close schools in Crisfield, sea level rise slowly degrade quaint coastal towns until they were essentially uninhabitable, and water wash out the graves of our historic Black communities. I’ve spoken with farmers who are losing acreage due to saltwater intrusion, numerous people with undrinkable well water, and devastated business owners.