Other neighborhoods have retrofitted storm sewers, and the island has built five canal pumping stations to deal with the highest tides. These pipes can also store rainwater to limit flooding when heavy rains occur with high tides. In southwest Tybee Island, which has seen chronic flooding, large-diameter pipes with tide gates-a multimillion-dollar project-now prevent seawater from flowing into the sewer system. FEMA plans to redraw flood maps in 2016, putting even more pressure on residents-more than a third of whom own vacation rentals that bring summer income.ĭealing with sea level rise is a steep challenge for historic coastal cities and low-lying barrier islands, but one that both Savannah and Tybee Island are trying to tackle. The cost of flood insurance for residents of Tybee Island is set to increase, partly because of the growing flood risk to their homes from sea level rise. Each year, about 10 of those floods would fall into the extensive category, affecting highways, houses, businesses, infrastructure, and parks, across an expanded area of the city and region.Īccording to Jason Evans of the Carl Vinson Institute at the University of Georgia, “With a foot of sea level rise, you’d expect to see tidal flooding on the order of 100 days a year, rather than just four to five times a year as we do now.” Observes Paul Wolff, Tybee Island’s longest-sitting city council member, “Now is the time to plan and budget for infrastructure that we’ll need 20, 50, and 100 years from now to deal with the impacts of sea level rise.” Projections for 2045 are stark: Savannah could see a foot of sea level rise and a 10-fold increase in tidal flood events-to more than 100 annually.
And sea level rise of almost half a foot will transform today’s nuisance tidal floods into more dangerous and damaging ones, with conditions that now occur only during the worst tidal floods. Projections show that by 2030, just 15 years from now, Savannah could see more than 30 tidal floods a year-a threefold increase compared with today. Such events leave cars stuck and properties flooded. On those occasions, sewer pipes on parts of Tybee Island fill with seawater and cannot drain into the ocean, so backflow occurs. Onshore winds and low-pressure systems off the coast often aggravate flooding by pushing water against the shore and allowing successive tides to build up. At these times, flooding can affect many sections of downtown, as well as stretches of the railway to the Port of Savannah. Conditions are worse during higher spring tides, which occur twice a month when sun, moon, and Earth align. When water floods this and other roads, residents often contend with standing water, and downtown parking lots become inaccessible.
#Tide graph tybee island ga full
The island is served by a single highway, Highway 80, which has become particularly prone to tidal flooding during a full or new moon. These efforts include raising the elevation of electronic controls for city wells, placing tide gates on storm-sewer outflows, raising roads, and nourishing eroding beaches.įloods in the Savannah area, including Tybee Island, now occur about 10 times a year-up from an average of just five or fewer some 40 years ago.
Like Savannah, this vacation town knows that it sits on the front line of sea level rise and is already taking steps to adapt.
Georgia’s most densely developed barrier island and a tourist destination, Tybee Island has a colorful past as the haunt of the notorious pirate Blackbeard.
The island has a permanent population of around 3,000, which swells to 30,000 during the summer. Neighboring Tybee Island, at the mouth of the Savannah River, was once known as Savannah’s beach.
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