In the future, rising temperatures and increases in the duration and intensity of drought are expected to increase wildfire occurrence and also reduce the effectiveness of prescribed fire practices.3,4,5,6. Stone, B., J. Vargo, P. Liu, Y. T. Hu, and A. Russell, 2013: Climate change adaptation through urban heat management in Atlanta, Georgia. Kelleway, J. J., K. Cavanaugh, K. Rogers, I. C. Feller, E. Ens, C. Doughty, and N. Saintilan, 2017: Review of the ecosystem service implications of mangrove encroachment into salt marshes. Notaro, M., M. Schummer, Y. Zhong, S. Vavrus, L. Van Den Elsen, J. Coluccy, and C. Hoving, 2016: Projected influences of changes in weather severity on autumn-winter distributions of dabbling ducks in the Mississippi and Atlantic flyways during the twenty-first century. Meehl, G. A., J. M. Arblaster, and G. Branstator, 2012: Mechanisms contributing to the warming hole and the consequent US east-west differential of heat extremes. Area > 290.00 km2 (111.97 sq mi) Population > 32,215 (2015 Census) Terrain > Mountainous with narrow Coastal Plain Industries > Agriculture, Trading, Tourism Major Products > Rice, Corn, Fish, Coconut, Vegetables, Pineapple, Poultry, Handicraft, Home-made Food Items People/Language > Tagalog, Bicolano, English Drought and extreme heat can result in tree mortality and transform the regions forested ecosystems (Ch. A Special NOAA 20th Anniversary Report. At the coast, a combination of high tide and heavy rain caused significant flooding in downtown Charleston. High rainfall totals were experienced in many impacted areas, with Fort Pierce, Florida, receiving the highest rainfall of more than 21.5 inches100 and the Florida Keys receiving 12 inches of rain.84,102 Flooding occurred on most rivers in northern Florida and in many rivers in both Georgia and South Carolina to the point that rescues were required. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 518 pp. 17: Southeast and the Caribbean. Business and Industries. Many in rural communities are maintaining connections to traditional livelihoods and relying on natural resources that are inherently vulnerable to climate change. Downsides of this population gain include higher costs of living driven by increased demand for housing and greater traffic congestion. The southeastern United States is one of the few regions in the world that has experienced little overall warming of daily maximum temperatures since 1900. The remaining costs would address losses in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.84 The losses could have been worse except for the fact that Florida has implemented one of the strictest building codes in the country after the destruction caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.111 Recent estimates using insured loss data show that implementing the Florida Building Code resulted in a 72% reduction of windstorm losses, and for every $1 in added cost to implement the building code, there is a savings of $6 in reduced losses, with the return or payback period being roughly 8 years (in 2010 dollars).111. Guo, H., C. Weaver, S. P. Charles, A. Whitt, S. Dastidar, P. D'Odorico, J. D. Fuentes, J. S. Kominoski, A. R. Armitage, and S. C. Pennings, 2017: Coastal regime shifts: Rapid responses of coastal wetlands to changes in mangrove cover. Hence, the loss and/or replacement of foundation plant species, like salt marsh grasses, will have ecological and societal consequences in certain areas.135,145,157,158,159,160,161,162,163,164 While salt marsh and mangrove wetlands both contain valuable foundation species, some of the habitat and societal benefits provided by existing salt marsh habitats will be affected by the northward expansion of mangrove forests.145,158,160,161,164,165. Hauer, M. E., 2017: Migration induced by sea-level rise could reshape the US population landscape. Flordia Science Source, Ocala, FL,. Lovett, H. B., S. B. Snider, K. K. Gore, and R. C. Muoz, Eds., 2016: Luce, C. H., J. M. Vose, N. Pederson, J. Campbell, C. Millar, P. Kormos, and R. Woods, 2016: Contributing factors for drought in United States forest ecosystems under projected future climates and their uncertainty. The main crosstown traffic artery in Charleston, South Carolina (U.S. 17 Septima Clark Parkwaycrosstown), has historically been susceptible to flooding events (Figure 19.9). Ziska, L. H., D. E. Gebhard, D. A. Frenz, S. Faulkner, B. D. Singer, and J. G. Straka, 2003: Cities as harbingers of climate change: Common ragweed, urbanization, and public health. The Southeast is the region of the country with the most favorable conditions for this mosquito and thus faces the greatest threat from diseases the mosquito carries.30 Climate change is expected to make conditions more suitable for transmission of certain vector-borne diseases, including year-round transmission in southern Florida. A state of emergency was declared in four states from Florida north to Virginia and in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and, for the first time ever, Atlanta was placed under a tropical storm warning.105,106,107,108 In Florida, a record 6.8 million people were ordered to evacuate, as were 540,000 coastal residents in Georgia and untold numbers in other coastal locations.102,109,110 Nearly 192,000 evacuees were housed in approximately 700 emergency shelters in Florida alone.109 According to NOAAs National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI),84 Irma significantly damaged 65% of the buildings in the Keys and destroyed 25% of them. Increases in precipitation and shifts in wind trajectories may reduce future health impacts of ground level ozone in the Southeast,35 but warmer and drier autumns are expected to result in a lengthening of the period of ozone exposure.38 Warmer August temperatures in the Southeast from 1988 to 2011 were associated with increased human sensitivity to ground-level ozone.39. Increases in extreme rainfall events and high tide coastal floods due to future climate change will impact the quality of life of permanent residents as well as tourists visiting the low-lying and coastal regions of the Southeast. Day, R. Boumans, and K. Bagstad, 2010: Gaining Ground: Wetlands, Hurricanes and the Economy: The Value of Restoring the Mississippi River Delta. The following correlation chart illustrates the relation between North Carolina coastal plain aquifers, geologic time above fractured bedrock can improve yields to 200 gallons per minute or more. Warmer winter temperatures are also expected to facilitate the northward movement of problematic invasive species, which could transform natural systems north of their current distribution. Extreme drought events are expected to become more frequent and severe. NOAA RCC, 2017: xmACIS2 [Applied Climate Information System online tool]. 7: Ecosystems). USDA-NASS, 2017: Statistics by State [web site]. B. C. Jackson, 2017: Ghost reefs: Nautical charts document large spatial scale of coral reef loss over 240 years. Island Press, Washington, DC,. Interviewees also identified low-income and minority communities, substandard housing, lack of access to vehicles for evacuation, limited modes of communication, and limited local government capacity as contributing factors to difficulties in emergency planning.288, The healthcare system in the Southeast is already overburdened and may be further stressed by climate change. doi: Cavanaugh, K. C., J. D. Parker, S. C. Cook-Patton, I. C. Feller, A. P. Williams, and J. R. Kellner, 2015: Integrating physiological threshold experiments with climate modeling to project mangrove species' range expansion. Changing climatic conditions (particularly, changes in the frequency and severity of climate extremes) are, however, difficult to replicate via experimental manipulations; hence, ecological responses to future climate regimes have not been fully quantified for all species and ecosystems. I. Aboveground net primary productivity. Events of such magnitudes are projected to become more likely in the future due to a changing climate,19,87 putting more people in peril from future floods. Kozlowski, T. T., and S. G. Pallardy, 1997: Growth Control in Woody Plants. There is high confidence that increases in temperature are very likely to increase heat-related illness, deaths, and loss of labor productivity without greater adaptation efforts. 6: Forests, KM 3 for additional discussion on forest change impacts on rural landscapes. Shaffer, J., A. Bennett, and A. Bylythe, 2017: NC governor declares state of emergency ahead of powerful Hurricane Irma: Get ready.. Figure 1. 2017,103 Box 9.1). Higher temperatures can result in decreasing productivity of some cultivated crops, including cotton, corn, soybeans, and rice.7 Livestock, which includes hogs and pigs, horses, ponies, mules, burros, and donkeys as well as poultry and processed poultry for consumption (for example, chicken nuggets), is a large component of the agricultural sector for these states and the Nation.258 Livestock are all vulnerable to heat stress, and their care under projected future conditions would require new or enhanced adaptive strategies (Ch. Study now. B., and J. S. Clark, 2016: Multiyear drought-induced morbidity preceding tree death in southeastern U.S. forests. Infrastructure related to drinking water treatment and wastewater treatment may be compromised by climate-related events (Ch. Howell, B. J., 2002: Appalachian culture and environmental planning: Expanding the role of cultural sciences. For example, the number of days with 3 or more inches of precipitation has been historically high over the past 25 years, with the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s ranking as the decades with the 1st, 3rd, and 2nd highest number of events, respectively (Figure 19.3). Forest cover ranges from almost 50% to 80% in these states, creating large areas of interface between populations and forests.262 Jobs in timber, logging, and support for agriculture and forestry totaled approximately 458,000.263 (See Ch. 20: U.S. Caribbean).33,34 The Southeast is also the region with the greatest projected increase in cases of West Nile neuroinvasive disease under both a lower and higher scenario (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5).35,36, Poor air quality directly impacts human health, resulting in respiratory disease and other ailments. The assets in a community affect its development path. Jones, W. D., 1979: Effects of the 1978 freeze on native plants of Sonora, Mexico. However, between 1932 and 2016, Louisiana lost 2,006 square miles of land area (see Case Study A Lesson Learned for Community Resettlement),211 due in part to high rates of relative sea level rise.212,213,214,215 The rate of wetland loss during this period equates to Louisiana losing an area the size of one football field every 34 to 100 minutes.211 To protect and restore the Louisiana coast, the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) has worked with local, state, and federal partners to iteratively develop a 2017 Coastal Master Plan that identifies investments that can provide direct restoration and risk reduction benefits.216 The aim of the 50-year, $50-billion strategy is to sustain Louisianas coastal ecosystems, safeguard coastal populations, and protect vital economic and cultural resources.216. Plains generally have fertile soil and are attractive to settlement as they are easy to reach, provide good roadbuilding, and have good farmland.