Some North Carolina coastal towns now flood up to 100 days a year
Rising sea levels mean ordinary high tides are now enough to flood roads in some North Carolina coastal towns, cutting residents off from work, school and medical appointments as often as 100 days a year.
In coastal North Carolina towns including Beaufort and Carolina Beach, residents are increasingly dealing with flooded roads even without rain, as rising sea levels push routine tidal changes above the level local infrastructure can handle. "Our tides and our normal changes in ocean water levels are now happening on top of higher average sea levels ... and that water level is too much for the infrastructure," said Miyuki Hino, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Hino said the flooding, which can happen 50, 60 or even 100 days a year in some of the towns her team studies, forces residents to miss work, school and medical appointments when roads become impassable. Her research team has installed sensors and cameras at flood-prone locations and shares the data with residents in real time, helping people decide whether to reroute or wait for water to recede.
Researchers are also using the flood data to model potential solutions, including water pumps and seawalls, that communities could use to manage the flooding over the long term.
Based on reporting by the YCC Team for Yale Climate Connections, with reporting credit to Myriam Vidal Valero of ChavoBart Digital Media. Read the original: https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/09/some-coastal-towns-in-north-carolina-now-flood-up-to-100-days-a-year/
This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by an editor before publication.
