Climate change could increase the cost of flooding

As the impacts of climate change are more readily felt around the world, the increase in coastal flooding could put global governments out of pocket. Scientists are suggesting that the increase in the flooding of coastal cities could result in costs of up to £600 billion each year before 2050.

The main cities that are expected to be affected by continuous flooding are New York, Miami and New Orleans in the US and Guangzhou in China. Together these four cities will account for around 43 per cent of coastal flooding, according to new research. These are not the only cities that could be affected, as Mumbai, Boston, Marseille and Naples are also among those that could sustain the biggest losses due to flooding in the lead up to 2050.

As the global sea levels continue to rise - due to large levels of melting ice due to climate change, according to many scientists - and other factors, such as urban growth and land subsidence, become more of an issue, coastal flooding is expected to get worse.

In the past 100 years sea levels have already increased by eight inches, which has led to a noticeable increase in the flooding of these popular coastal cities. As six out of ten of the world's largest cities are located in coastal regions, this could mean severe losses to the global economy.

Researchers have based these estimations on data recorded at 136 of the world's largest coastal cities, which suggested that only accounting for socio-economic changes in these areas could increase flood damage to around £33 billion in 2050. This is a huge change from the £4 billion worth of damage created in these cities in 2005 as a result of flooding.

It is not only the increase in sea levels that are likely to cause an increase in flooding, as global temperatures rise it is likely that coastal settlements will see an increase in the ferocity of storms. These more powerful storms will be more likely to affect coastal regions.