Study suggests rising sea levels could sink a quarter of Maryland homes by 2100

If you live near the water, a recent study suggests that you might want to consider relocating to a home further inland.

Dr. Memo Diricker, the Director of Beacon at Salisbury University, said, "Well a lot of researchers for a while have been telling us that in the next hundred years, the sea level is going to rise. The estimates range from about 4 feet up to 8 feet."

Research conducted by Zillow suggests that by the year 2100, a quarter of all Maryland homes will be under water.

Many residents, like Jordan Joyner and Patty Green from Crisfield, said they're not surprised by these findings, and they said they've witnessed the sea level rising first hand.

Jordan Joyner said, "Over my years, I'll be 65 next month, and over my years I have seen it get much worse than what it's been."

Patty Green said, "Well we've always had flooding. Mostly it has to do with basically your hurricanes, that sort of thing, but over the years, you know, you can see the raise of water levels." 

If you don't buy into the idea of rising sea levels, professionals have a rebuttal. Dr. Diriker said, "We can question the validity of it but there's too much evidence to indicate that the trend is in the wrong direction. In other words, we will have some level of sea rise"

Areas like Crisfield, Tangier Island and Smith Island have already seen water levels rising and many of these area's long time residents don't want to be forced out of their homes.

Green said, "You've got people that have lived there for hundreds of years, and that's their home. And we don't want to leave!"

That's why professionals like Dr. Diriker believe it is so important to start taking action now rather than later. "If we don't have those discussions now, if we don't take these precautions, incremental precautions now, later on it would be a crisis situation and people would lose a lot of value and even loss of life," he said.

Professionals believe we should begin planning for any potential sea level rise with policy conversations.