Rising Sea Levels Threaten Over 250,000 Coastal Australian Properties: Report

CANBERRA, Sept 10 (NNN-Xinhua) -- Over 250,000 Australian homes will be vulnerable to damage from coastal flooding by the year 2100 as a result of rising sea levels, according to a new report.

The report, which was released on Thursday by NGO the Climate Council, estimated that rising sea levels and storm surges will cost the national economy AUD$855 billion (US$617.3 billion) in the 21st century.

It found that flooding will put 267,000 coastal properties, 2 million hectares of land and critical infrastructure across all six states and the Northern Territory at risk of damage by 2100, causing AUD$274.3 billion (US$198 billion ) in property losses and AUD$580.7 billion (US$419.3 billion) in land use damage.

"This is how sea level rise packs a punch, by increasing the impacts of storm surges and coastal flooding that's hitting communities harder, and more often," Andrew Watkins, former head of climate prediction at the Bureau of Meteorology and co-author of the report, said in a media release.

"Science shows that the most extreme sea levels we see in a typical year now will occur monthly by 2090. That's simply too often to repair the damage."

The northeastern state of Queensland has the most properties that will be at risk of damage, with 93,157, while Western Australia (WA) has the largest area of affected land and the highest projected economic losses.

The report estimated that 34.6 per cent of all farming land in WA will be at risk of damage, driving AUD$230.5 billion (US$166.4 billion) in cumulative economic losses for the state.

Watkins said that political leaders must move to cut climate pollution faster and better prepare coastal communities for the sea level rise that is already locked in.

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