Lore wrote:You may know Houston, but as for people they are not just going to keep moving a few miles inland as there will be nothing to keep them in the area and every reason to leave. At about 13 meters Houston becomes a swamp. Just my guess, but if current conditions persist to accelerate we will be at more than half of that by the end of the century, if not sooner. Most residents will have long been gone before then. Most likely as soon as the coast dissappears along with the antigueted oil industry. The only ones left will be those that wern't smart enough to get out in time.
Lore, the edge of what we think of as "Houston" here, is 50 miles from the bay, and at 150 ft above Sea Level. Besides, Houston won't become a swamp. It has never NOT been a swamp! What do you think this is, some rocky California coastal city? After it rains, I sink ankle deep in mud.. in my front lawn, and I'm on high ground. The soil moves so much we have a vast industry of companies that redo foundations that have literally split into multiple pieces.
As to "they are not just going to keep moving a few miles inland..." Again, you know nothing of Houston. Houstonians have been doing EXACTLY that at least since the 1940's. A good 75+ years of standard behavior; its what they did then, its what they do right now; its exactly the same thing they'll be doing 50 years from now. Houstonians are weird too; kinda backwards; once they move far out in the "burbs" as it were; they then build high rise office buildings... IN THE BURBS to reduce their commute (then shortly thereafter.. move further out... again).
There is no zoning.
There are no rules that say you can't put a high rise office building, industrial park, or pretty much anything legal (brothels and drug dens tend to get frowned upon) in the middle of a subdivision. And that's pretty much exactly what we do, have done forever, and will continue to do.
Houstonians will keep moving North and West.... until we annex Austin and remedy their version of "weird"
The simple reality of Houston and sea level rise, is that whatever piece of land you think is so important that it must define the location of Houston will be abandoned and uninhabited long before SLR is a problem.
Houston is NOT a stuck in place spot on the map. Houston moves. And it moves faster than SLR. Much faster.
Oh, and where ever the San Jac, BufBayou and Trinity happen to hit the bay? You can rest assured oil will be processed, natural gas squished, cars unloaded, etc. Whether that's where they are today, or 10-40 miles further inland, makes no difference. That spot will be "Houston".
NOTE (to mods) Why is there now a weird timer on amount of time between posts?