Thread by @TimeOutLondon

With sea levels rising worldwide, several major metropolises are at risk of being submerged 🌊

timeout.com/things-to-do/c…

Global warming can be difficult to properly visualise. If you’re not directly threatened by rising sea levels, suffering water shortages or ravaged by wildfires, how do you know it’s really happening?

That’s why projects like Climate Central are essential. This website creates maps that show which parts of the world could find themselves underwater due to rising sea levels as early as 2030

There are plenty of variables at play. We could build flood defences, adapt our cities and take dramatic action to halt global warming.

But if none of that happens, here are the potential consequences 👇

📍Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague sit low, flat and close to the North Sea. The Dutch are famed for their flood defences, and it seems the country’s dikes, dams, barriers, levees and floodgates will become even more essential in the years to come

📍Basra, Iraq

Due to its network of canals and streams, as well as neighbouring marshland, Basra is vulnerable to a rise in sea levels. It also already suffers significantly from waterborne diseases – so increased flooding carries even more of a threat

📍New Orleans, USA

Without the city’s system of levees, New Orleans would be severely threatened by rising sea levels. Even with them, the damage looks catastrophic. The Biloxi and Jean Lafitte wildlife preserves look particularly vulnerable to being totally submerged

📍Venice, Italy

Venice faces a twin threat: sea levels are rising and the city itself is sinking – by two millimetres every year. Like New Orleans, it has flood-defence systems in place, but as the crisis worsens, these will be more difficult (and expensive) to maintain

📍Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The areas most at risk are its eastern districts – particularly the flat, heavily built-up marshland of Thủ Thiêm. While the centre is unlikely to be underwater by 2030, it will almost certainly be more vulnerable to flooding and tropical storms

📍Kolkata, India

Much of west Bengal has thrived for centuries because of its fertile landscape, but that has become a cause for concern in Kolkata. Like Ho Chi Minh City, it could struggle during monsoon season as rainwater has less land to run off into

📍Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok could be the city worst hit by global warming in the short term. It sits just 1.5 metres above sea level. It's also built on clay soil, which makes it more prone to flooding. By 2030, its main airport, Suvarnabhumi International, could be underwater

📍Georgetown, Guyana

For centuries, Guyana has relied on sea walls – or, more accurately, one 280-mile long sea wall – for protection from storms. Some 90% of Guyana’s population lives on the coast, so it will need to substantially bolster its sea wall to avoid massive damage

📍Savannah, USA

Savannah sits in a hurricane hotspot. The Savannah River in the north and Ogeechee River in the south could spill out into the nearby marshland. By 2050, the city is predicted to experience once-per-century historical flood levels every year