A Washington Post analysis has found that the Pensacola area’s sea level rose 6.7 inches from 2010 to 2023.
Using satellite data, the Post found the Gulf of Mexico has experienced twice the global average rate of sea level rise since 2010. They also looked at gauges along the Southern state shores, the one at neary by Dauphin Island, Ala., showed the 6.7 in. rise – the same gauge only saw 3.5 in. rise from 1980-2009.
Why this matters: Mobile and Pensacola were featured in the article.
The Pensacola segment – “Water With No Place to Go” – stated the city is one of the many contending with outdated and overmatched infrastructure systems. Gloria Horning was featured.
“The water tries to go down, but it has no place to go,” Gloria Horning said outside the home she has owned on S. De Villiers Street since 2016. “The infrastructure is so low, so old, it just explodes because it can’t take the water. And it doesn’t take but a couple of inches for that to happen every time.”
Read Part One: The New Face of Flooding.
Also, it should be noted that last week was the 10-year anniversary of our big flood and the subsequent jail explosion.