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In Partnership with The Public’s Radio
High Tide Flooding offers a glimpse of Rhode Island’s future as sea level rises By Sofie Rudin
The parking lot outside Harbor View Artisans often floods during king tides.
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SORhodeIsland.com • January 2022
increasing the gravitational pull on the earth’s oceans. And the moon was at its closest point to the earth in its monthly orbit, which also strengthens its pull. These extra-high tides are known as king tides or spring tides. King tides regularly cause flooding across the state: from Atlantic Ave in Westerly to the Oakland Beach neighborhood in Warwick, from Waterplace Park in Providence down through the East Bay. As global warming causes sea level to rise, high tide flooding like this is becoming more common. In 2000, tide stations in Providence and Newport recorded two to three flooding days per year. By 2050, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects those cities could see high tide flooding
more than a hundred days each year. The flooded parking lot in Wickford “represents what we are going to expect on a daily basis, you know, possibly 10 or 20 years from now,” Crean said. She regularly visits this spot during storms and high tides to photograph the flooding. “We’ve seen fish swimming. I always look for fish to see if any fish made it in,” she said. On this morning, bicyclists and dog walkers detoured around the expanding pond, and a couple people hopped out of cars to take a look. The flooding crested about a dozen feet from a small building that houses the Harbor View Artisans co-op, which sells art made by 25 local artists. “It happens quite often, like probably every
Photo by Sofie Rudin, courtesy of The Public’s Radio
As the tide rolled in on a recent morning in Wickford, the center of the Brown Street parking lot gradually filled with water. The parking lot is wedged between the harbor and the main street, which is lined by antique shops, boutiques, and restaurants. In the middle of the lot, water welled up through a storm drain. “There’s a connection of the storm drain out to Wickford Harbor,” explained Teresa Crean, a coastal community planner with the University of Rhode Island who focuses on sea level rise. “So when the tides are really high, the water comes up from underneath and floods the area around the storm drain.” The tide on this day was especially high for a couple reasons. The moon had been new recently, meaning it lined up with the sun,
