The series of strong storms that California experienced this past winter brought not just intense rainfall, devastating flooding and terrible loss of life, but also a growing awareness that California urgently needs to protect against the flood impacts of climate change.
Coastal areas that were inundated by rainfall experienced a preview of where rising seas will soon bring more frequent flooding. Those areas face a daunting future as climate change also brings intense storms more often. Now Gov. Gavin Newsom can take an important step to protect communities against these floods by signing a bill that requires cities to create effective shoreline resilience plans.
Most cities are aware that rising sea levels and climate-induced storm activity pose growing risks to people, property and nature, and some have started to identify vulnerable areas and plan how to manage rising tides and storm water. Hayward adopted a Shoreline Adaptation Master Plan that maximizes wetland restoration. San Francisco adopted a Waterfront Resilience Program, and city voters passed a bond measure to start rebuilding the Embarcadero seawall.
But many of the Bay Area’s cities and counties have not found the political will and resources to take on this challenge. The challenge is huge and expensive, but delaying action will cost more.
The Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s (BCDC) recent report showed that protecting the Bay Area from these flood risks will cost more than $110 billion. With nearly half a million Bay Area residents already living in a FEMA designated flood zone, preparing for sea level rise and future flood risk needs to be a regional priority.
If we leave this planning to individual cities without coordination and consistency, we won’t achieve regional protection and resilience. Instead, we’ll worsen the “governance gap” — the difference between our recognition of a mutual problem and the ability of government agencies to coordinate solutions across jurisdictions.
The bill on the governor’s desk addresses this gap by empowering BCDC as the Bay Area agency to establish one regional standard and set of local guidelines, so cities’ shoreline resilience plans fit together. It also sets a deadline for cities to complete their plans. The Coastal Commission would oversee resilience plans for cities on the Pacific Ocean. This approach can bridge the gap that has delayed planning and accelerate protection of the most vulnerable communities in the Bay Area and along California’s coast.
The bill’s author, Senator John Laird, actually led the legislature to pass a similar version of SB 272 with broad bipartisan support last year, but Governor Newsom vetoed it, claiming the cost to cities was too high. The bill’s new language should address that concern so cities can accelerate preparations now and avoid the much higher costs of not protecting against rising tides and extreme storms.
Flood waters will exploit any vulnerabilities, but Governor Newsom can start to fill a big gap in our flood defenses by signing this bill, so the Bay Area and the state keep rising tides and storm flooding at bay.
Joshua Quigley is policy manager for Save The Bay.
