Storms, tsunamis and other natural hazards can ravage coastal communities. The costs of this damage are increasing because of the huge and growing investments in the coastal zone. Human communities and coastal ecosystems are at even greater risk as hurricanes become more frequent and intense as an effect of global warming,especially along the Gulf of Mexico. Historically, the coastal population's vulnerability to hazards has typically been managed through structural or engineered approaches.
Coastal Hazards are quickly becoming a dangerous threat along the Gulf of Mexico.
Wetlands scattered throughout the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico are quickly eroding and becoming inhospitable literally and economically to the current residents as the freshwater depositories become inundated by saltwater due to wetland degradation. This area of ‘marginal-sea type coastline’ is quickly slipping away, destroying the likelihood of communities depending on usable beaches, freshwater and saltwater seafood environments.
The current plan as many have stated is that avoiding events like the Deepwater Horizon, cutting down on structural interference on rivers, wetlands, and swamps, and supplementing of sand along beaches and sand dunes to help combat inundation will be a good course of mitigation.
