Crossposting here:
Boston Harbor was in minor flood stage (12.5-14 ft tidal height) for two hours this morning, from about 7:00 to 9:00, peaking at 13.33 ft.
For perspective, this was the 29th highest crest recorded in Boston Harbor history.
While not unprecedented, this level of flooding is notable and not something that happens every month. The last tide this high was on January 13 when a storm brought a crest of 14.41 ft.
Today marks the third time Boston Harbor has reached flood stage this year after reaching that level four times last year and six times in 2022.
Looking at the bigger picture, Boston Harbor reaches flood stage much more often than in decades past. To demonstrate this fact, here are the number of times Boston Harbor has reached flood stage per decade, on record:
* through less than 4.5 years!
- 2020s: 25*
- 2010s: 21
- 2000s: 11
- 1990s: 10
- 1980s: 7
What was a once-a-year flood in the 1980-2009 period has become a six-times-a-year flood now.
Id like to reference these numbers.... source?Crossposting here:
Boston Harbor was in minor flood stage (12.5-14 ft tidal height) for two hours this morning, from about 7:00 to 9:00, peaking at 13.33 ft.
For perspective, this was the 29th highest crest recorded in Boston Harbor history.
While not unprecedented, this level of flooding is notable and not something that happens every month. The last tide this high was on January 13 when a storm brought a crest of 14.41 ft.
Today marks the third time Boston Harbor has reached flood stage this year after reaching that level four times last year and six times in 2022.
Looking at the bigger picture, Boston Harbor reaches flood stage much more often than in decades past. To demonstrate this fact, here are the number of times Boston Harbor has reached flood stage per decade, on record:
* through less than 4.5 years!
- 2020s: 25*
- 2010s: 21
- 2000s: 11
- 1990s: 10
- 1980s: 7
What was a once-a-year flood in the 1980-2009 period has become a six-times-a-year flood now.
I haven’t counted but I’d think this is where these numbers come from:Id like to reference these numbers.... source?
Id like to reference these numbers.... source?
I can't see this happening without Boston first experiencing some catastrophic, costly, flooding event that displaces some residents in affordable housing, floods a section of the Red Orange, and Green Lines, and shuts down Logan Airport (briefly). Only after such disaster would there be the will to actually get the massive harbor barrier project done.I think it’s time top officials at least start floating the idea of a full harbor barrier
I can't see this happening without Boston first experiencing some catastrophic, costly, flooding event that displaces some residents in affordable housing, floods a section of the Red Orange, and Green Lines, and shuts down Logan Airport (briefly). Only after such disaster would there be the will to actually get the massive harbor barrier project done.
I would wish Boston could just have a barrier before it happens, but realistically, it's going to be the other way around. The flood disaster will happen before a barrier is even committed to (let alone done to completion and operational).
...At the 15-acre power plant site, developers Hilco Redevelopment Partners and Redgate said they will build a $12 million, 659-foot-long sea wall. At the former Bayside Expo Center near the University of Massachusetts Boston, developer Accordia Partners plans a 2.7-acre waterfront park at its Dorchester Bay City project. That park, along with an estimated $18.5 million in resiliency improvements nearby and elevating the site itself, will protect both the project’s 36 acres and parts of South Boston and Dorchester behind it.
And in Charlestown, developer Flatley Co. plans to invest $50 million in a roughly half-mile-long barrier along the Mystic River near Sullivan Square — a wall that city development officials say will protect not just Flatley’s 1.8-million-square-foot project but also more than “200 acres of Charlestown, plus hundreds of acres of Somerville and Cambridge.”
And particularly problematic as development stalls for this cycle, leaving huge holes in the planned protection network.Globe article from April 5, on Boston's reliance on private developers to fund projects that provide resilience against near-term sea level rise.
Bostonâs defenses against rising seas lean on private development. What happens when the money dries up? - The Boston Globe
Several flood-protection projects like sea walls, berms, and elevated land are tangled up in large developments that now face slowdowns.www.bostonglobe.com