The Effects of Sea Level Rise in Georgia

It's not just sites from the past that are at risk

By WABE 90.1 FM

Article and radio reporting by Molly Samuel, WABE

Cockspur Island Lighthouse by Benhamin GallandWABE 90.1 FM

How Sea Level Rise Threatens Our History
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Fort Pulaski is a fort, near the mouth of the Savannah River, built before the Civil War.

The sea level has been rising at a rate of about a foot a century at Fort Pulaski, and it may speed up.

Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge by Stephen B. Morton/Special to WABEWABE 90.1 FM

If water levels come up by another 3 feet by 2100, which is on the conservative end of current projections, most of Cockspur Island, where Fort Pulaski is, would be underwater.

Grave Of Union Soldier by Stephen B. Morton/Special to WABEWABE 90.1 FM

There are a handful of veterans’ markers at the graves of people who served in the U.S. Colored Infantry in the Civil War. In the long run, this small cemetery is at risk of being sucked out to sea, too.

Cistern by Stephen B. Morton/Special to WABEWABE 90.1 FM

The coastal barrier islands are always shifting. That’s just part of what they do: they rise and fall, their dunes move, they adjust to the tides. And the sea level has gone up and down in the past.

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