Rising sea levels will flood over 2,650 Cork homes, report predicts

A report has predicted that one in every 100 homes in Cork could experience coastal flooding if sea levels continue to rise, which would result in more than €82m in insurance claims.

Compiled by Gamma Risk, the report said climate change will have many impacts on Ireland — including more erratic weather conditions leading to increased rainfall and more intense storms, as well as water shortages during the summer months.

The report said: “One important component of change is rising sea levels.

“Globally sea levels are expected to rise by 3-4mm per year, increasing to 15mm per year by 2100.

“In Ireland, satellite measurements have shown that the sea level has risen by 3.18mm per annum between 1993 and 2018.”

The report said that, in addition to this, extreme sea level events that are historically rare — occurring once per century in the recent past — are projected to occur more frequently, at least once per year, at numerous locations by 2050.

The report said: “This is especially true in Ireland, where even a 0.5m rise in sea level above levels seen in 2000 would result in extreme sea levels, which currently have a return rate of 100 years occurring every two years, and 1,000 year events expected to be seen once every 13 years or so.”

The report estimates the cost of coastal flooding on residential and commercial property, predicting the amount of flooded addresses with a 1m rise in sea level, and a projected increase in extreme sea levels of 75cm.

It predicted 2,659 flooded addresses in Cork, or 1% of the total amount of addresses in the county if sea levels were to increase.

The report explained these figures are for coastal flooding only, with further river flooding likely in other parts of Cork.

The report said: “In typical scenarios in Ireland, numerous types of flood act together with storms bringing heavy rainfall as well as storm surges.

“If rivers with high water levels meet high sea levels, then even more flooding can be expected to occur.”

The cost of this flooding in insurance claims would be high, with €47.9m in residential costs and €34.5m in commercial costs expected in Cork alone, a total of €82.4m.

The report pointed out that the cost figures do not include costs of repairing infrastructure or motor vehicles impacted by coastal flooding, which would result in even more insurance claims.