Flooding in Newport Points to No Easy Solution

NEWPORT, RI—State Rep. Lauren Carson lives in The Point neighborhood in Newport, so she’s not unaccustomed to the sheer force of mother nature.

The area is right next to the ocean and has been battered by storms and strong tides for hundreds of years. And it has survived for generations; the neighborhood has the highest concentration of colonial homes of any neighborhood in the country.

On Tuesday, Carson heard that the neighborhood was experiencing flooding.

“My neighbor said to me ‘don’t go down there, it’s flooded,’”

“I’m going exactly there,” she said, and brought her camera.

Carson said she wanted to get some photos to document the flooding as part of her ongoing efforts to understand the increasingly-pressing issue of coastal flooding affecting Newport and other coastal communities around the world.

“I think about it day and night,” Carson said. “It really was one of the motivating factors for me to run [for office].”

Narragansett Bay is on average about 9 inches higher than it was in the 1939, Carson said, and though there “is a feeling that Newport has been resilient over many storms since the 1600s,” things have changed dramatically in recent decades.

Along with the rising sea level, there is much more pavement and impervious surface in the city, which compounds the problem.

The cost to the community is tough to calculate. There is the issue of property damage, of course, but the long-term impact of a city slowly succumbing to the sea presents extremely troubling prospects. This is a city known as a tourist attraction in large part for its history and architecture.

“We’re at the tip of the iceberg,” Carson said.

Carson is the chairwoman of a special house committee looking at the impact of sea level rise and flooding. A report from that committee is due in April.

Carson said that the committee focused on Newport, the Port of Providence and Westerly and has collected testimony from property owners, the business community, scientists and others.

“It’s time we really hone in,” Carson said.

Along with The Point neighborhood, flooding was seen in the Fifth Ward down by King’s Park, Carson said.

Another local organization grappling with flooding is the Newport Restoration Foundation, which owns and cares for a multitude of historic properties in Newport with a concentration in The Point neighborhood.

As caretakers to vulnerable properties, NRF has already had to find ways to deal with coastal flooding, whether its putting heating and electrical systems in upper floors to reinforcing lower levels to prevent water intrusion.

In April, NRF is hosting an important forum, “Keeping History Above Water,” to focus specifically on the issue of coastal flooding and its impact on historical sites. Attendees will include officials from New Orleans, Annapolis, Galveston, Venice and Amsterdam, among others.

At the conference, the topic will be debated with “an emphasis on real world applications,” and the hope is that the sharing of ideas will lead to action.

But there is still a sinking feeling that efforts to stave off flooding will only go so far. Sea levels are expected to rise by three feet over the next 50 years unless drastic, global action to reverse climate change occurs.

“It’s a difficult problem to wrap your brain around,” Carson said. “Many folks don’t know how to think about it.”

But people are thinking about it, and that offers some hope, Carson said. The recent Paris Accords showed that 130 countries are willing to take some steps to work together to find solutions.

“There is a growing minority of people trying to figure this out,” she said.

Photo courtesy: Laruen Carson