It’s time for Northeast to prep for floods like those that hit this winter. Climate change is why

By PATRICK WHITTLE
Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Scientists say the back-to-back storms that lashed the Northeast in January were more of a sign of things to come than an anomaly. Many scientists who study the intersection of climate change, flooding, winter storms and sea level say such storms will arrive with increased frequency and ferocity, and the damage they leave behind will worsen as sea levels rise. They say the January storms that destroyed wharfs in Maine, eroded sand dunes in New Hampshire and destroyed houses in Rhode Island are becoming more the norm than the exception, and the time to prepare for them is now.