Chilling warning issued by scientists as they reveal Hawaii is sinking
Climate change is rapidly dragging sections of Hawaii towards their doom, according to the scientific community.
It's the idyllic island of O'ahu in particular that's largely at risk here, with the coastal communities of Honolulu, Waikiki, Pearl Harbour and Ewa Beach facing serious sinkage that's apparently unfolding 40 times faster than initially expected.
In a new study, co-authored by Kyle Murray and published in Communications Earth & Environment, Hawaiians are chillingly warned how pockets of O'ahu's southern shore are now sinking up to 25mm per year, which doesn't match up with the far more gradual land depletion and will cost $12.9 billion (£9.97bn) in infrastructure costs to combat flooding.
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Murray wrote: "In rapidly subsiding areas, sea level rise impacts will be felt much sooner than previously estimated, which means that we must prepare for flooding on a shorter timeline."
This frightening investigation concluded that the Pearl Harbour area - infamously attacked by the Japanese military in 1941 and then subsequently dramatised on cinema screens by director Michael Bay 60 years later - and the Mapunapuna neighbourhood may be flooded within this very decade, which is 30 years earlier than previously believed for the latter.
On the lighter side of climate crisis, the study found that Downtown Honolulu, Ewa Beach and Waikiki would only begin to feel regular flooding effects by 2080, with the projected sea level having risen by six feet.
If we look 20 years further along, that measurement could balloon to eight feet.
Vice president for science at Climate Central, Dr Kristina Dahl, told the Daily Mail: "Rising sea levels due to climate change are already increasing coastal flood risks in low-lying neighbourhoods around Honolulu, and this new study shows that sinking land could significantly amplify those risks.
"Add in subsidence rates that are on par with sea level rise rates, and the threat increases substantially."
Dr Dahl also went on to predict that 'higher annual coastal flood levels' could expose islanders, businesses and infrastructure, with mega storms already causing significant flooding near Honolulu during the past few months.
If the populated Hawaiian landscape is to be protected, strategic relocations for businesses and homes will need to be implemented in these high-risk sections.
Before the locals really start to panic, though, the study indicated that the sinking ramifications would decrease in Mapunapuna by 2090, although their neighbours in other regions may well be fully underwater by that stage.
Dan Seddon