Hurricane Season Close To An End, But Georgia’s Coast Struggles With Persistent Flood Threats

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November 24th, 2020

In 2016, resident Ron Wilson looks out to sea after Hurricane Matthew passed through St. Simons Island. While storms like Matthew can make an impact, there is another looming threat to the area: sea-level rise inching up the Georgia coast, a slow-motion inundation that doesn’t recede.

David Goldman / Associated Press file

Hurricanes Matthew and Irma were wake-up calls to many on the Georgia coast. The 2016 and 2017 storms – less than 12 months apart – swamped coastal communities, leaving homes that had never previously flooded a mess.

Some flooded twice.

For years, Georgia had missed such damaging direct hits from hurricanes. The pair of storms spurred planning, as local officials grasped the danger of future catastrophic storms. (Hurricane Michael, in 2018, did more damage to southwest Georgia farmers than to the coast.)

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