Climate change could submerge homes and businesses in Hermosa and Redondo beaches
A map prepared by the Pacific Institute shows the ocean (blue) submerging western stretches of Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach by 2100. (The pink line indicates a coastal zone boundary and the red lines indicate U.S. highways.) By the dawn of the next century the Pacific Ocean could swamp King Harbor and ring the 52-acre AES power plant in standing water, submerge Hermosa Beach’s sparkling Pier Plaza, and soak homes and businesses a couple of blocks inland to Hermosa Avenue. That’s the view of modelers mulling the prediction by scientists that worldwide sea levels will rise — unevenly from landmass to landmass — as much as 55 inches by the year 2100. They blame unchecked greenhouse gasses, which will heat up the earth’s atmosphere and melt the polar icecaps. Manhattan Beach, where the land slopes up sharply from the sand to the Strand, fares better under the 55-inch scenario, with the ocean stopping just short of the westernmost line of homes. Perhaps even Mother Nature is loath to savage that city’s seemingly indestructible property values. While the ocean is hemming in the beach cities, scientists believe that heat-induced droughts will be drying up the drinkable water all…
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