FEMA
(Federal Emergency Management Agency) warns that coastal erosion will have
severe consequences on homes within 500 feet of marine or Great Lakes shorelines
over the next 60 years. They
predict 25 percent of those structures will be completely destroyed.
The
Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines will account for 60 percent of the
losses.
Costs
to homeowners will exceed a half billion dollars a year. The highest erosion rates will occur in the Gulf of Mexico,
up to 6 feet a year in some places. The
average erosion rate along the Atlantic coast will be 3 feet.
The FEMA report is available.
01/08/04 15:08