Southern California cities adjusting to worsening King Tides
The crashing waves can be a calming force on the California coast but the mighty Pacific Ocean is nothing to turn your back on.
Reina Sharkey's daughter lives along a stretch of sand in Seal Beach where the frequent "King Tides" and storms have forced the city to give them a winter wall of sand.
"I can't see the ocean because of that hill there," said Sharkey.
The city said that the berms are a necessary safety measure to protect the nearby homes from the surf and high tides.
"The berm we put together in Seal Beach is 12 feet high and it's large enough to drive a lifeguard truck along the top of it," said Seal Beach Marine Safety Chief Joe Bailey.
Homeowners are thankful the large berm is there to protect them from having a flooded house full of salt water.
"It's been happening lately, the change of climate is responsible for things like that," said Sharkey. "Man has destroyed the Earth. I'm sorry but that's what's happening and this is the result."
However, while scientists claim that King Tides are not a direct result of climate change, they have worsened because of the rise in sea levels.
"We expect to see about another foot of sea level rise in the next 30 years that's equal to the amount of sea level rise we've seen in the last 100 years," said Ben Hamlington, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Hamlington heads the lab's Sea Level Change Team.
"So, these King Tides that are happening now and causing these impacts, that's going to be your normal high tide 20-30 years from now," he said. "What we're moving into eventually is a new normal as sea levels continue to increase."
The potential new normal prompted the California Coastal Commission to ask for photos of the coast when King Tides hit so communities can craft a plan to soften the blows from the crashing waves.
"Finding ways to adapt to the sea level rise is really going to become an important problem for coastal communities," said Hamlington.
The sea levels are rising because of Thermal Expansion, a product of climate change. The process has caused ice to melt into the ocean, which in turn caused the sea levels to rise and making higher waves, flooding in low-lying areas, washed-away roads and coastal erosion will become more common.
"There's a lot of the California coastline that's exposed and at risk because of coastal erosion as the sea gets further into the land," said Hamlington.
While the risk scares many beachgoers, those who live there understand the risks and say access to one of mother nature's most significant gifts is worth it.
