Rising Sea Levels
Thursday 6th May 2021
We had a couple of occasions today to think about rising sea levels. This morning we were walking around Belhaven (on our way to the post office and Food Lion) when we noticed that the drainage ditches that line the sides of the road were full of water. We figured it was high tide and Belhaven is so flat and close to sea level that the drainage ditches are effectively tidal. What is going to happen to this town as sea levels rise?
Later in the day we were motoring up the Pungo River-Alligator River canal and passed under two road bridges. The first had a height gauge showing 64 feet clearance – fine for us as our mast is 59 feet high plus 3 feet for wind instruments and VHF radio aerial, to give us a total height of 62 feet. As we were approaching the second bridge we were contacted on the radio by a sailboat called “Free Falling” that was approaching the same bridge from the opposite direction. They wanted to know what our mast height was and to observe us going under the bridge as their clearance was 63 feet 7 inches, potentially very close to the space available. We passed through with no problem and as we looked back it looked like they were also fine. However, it got us thinking again about rising sea levels. We were under the impression that engineering regulations for the ICW stipulated that bridges should have a minimum clearance of 65 feet. We were already aware that a couple of bridges were constructed sub-standard to 64 feet, but on this trip we feel we have seen several instances where clearances shown on the height boards was well under 65 feet and in fact as low as 63 feet. To what extent have sea levels already risen and what impacts are likely to be felt over the next 20 – 50 years? We have seen so many houses along the coast that look like they will become inundated as the coastline changes.
We are now anchored at the south end of the Alligator River. The marine weather forecast (via Sirius satellite) has deteriorated significantly but we cannot access other information, as cell phone coverage is poor … which is why we won’t actually be posting this blog tonight!
Mike
35 40.338 N, 76 05.734 W
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