Which U.S. Cities Are Sinking And How Much It Will Cost To Stop Them?

The land below many U.S. cities is sinking. Known as land subsidence, this natural and man-made phenomenon can have a direct effect on home values and put critical infrastructure such as railroads and airports in danger. Luckily, some land subsidence can be reversed. “It’s not cheap and it’s not easy. But we have tools in our toolbox that can implement that and see the results in … months or years,” said Manoochehr Shirzaei, professor of geophysics and remote sensing at Virginia Tech.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:43 Infrastructure and homes at risk
3:50 Causes
5:39 Solutions

Produced and Edited by: Lindsey Jacobson
Additional Camera by: Jeff Morganteen
Additional Editing by: Nora Rappaport
Animation: Jason Reginato
Additional Footage: Getty Images

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Which U.S. Cities Are Sinking And How Much It Will Cost To Stop Them?

[jrtstrategicapital]

By the time you pay off your mortgage...your house is underwater!

[shiftymcgee]

Meh. If I know my country, the US and its people will ignore this until it’s too late.

[MillenialJoe]

we cant fix homelessness and you think government and our taxes can fix this. 😂

[myownboss]

“Castles made of sand…. Slip into the sea…. Eventually!” - Jimi

[jerrywood]

Fifty years ago subsidence was recognized as a problem in the Galveston Bay area. Groundwater extraction, especially by industries along the Houston Ship Channel had created massive subsidence. The Harris County Subsidence District was formed, and has been slowly converting industries and cities in Harris County from groundwater to surface water from the Trinity and San Jacinto Rivers. It has been expensive, but successful. The higher cost of water also had the beneficial effect of reducing consumption. at least to some extent. Groundwater was cheap, surface water not so cheap, it has an effect.

[Lillith]

I do know that Louisiana has always had this issue and they called engineers from the Netherlands for help with their problems. Another reason for this are these are large coastal cities with a lot of weight on land plus erosion. I live about 90 min from the Gulf Coast in a small town. No one wants to live on or too near the coast because of the cost and all the many issues that go with a coastal home, we have seen it for many decades.

[brettwhite]

People love living next to water, but this is what water does. There are a lot of ancient cities that are under water now.

[OptimumSlinky]

It's almost as people should have listened to the scientists warning about this for last the 40 years, or paid attention to all of the insurance companies pulling out of at-risk markets, and not waited until the last, most expensive minute...

[SamMcKinley]

This is a big threat and the politicians rarely speak of it.

[hiddendrifts]

people seem to be interpreting the title as referring to sea level rise, when "land subsidence" is a completely separate issue. they both lead to the same result; land sinking underwater, but with completely different causes

[CarlosRodriguez-hbvq]

I was talking with a farmer in the San Joaquin Valley who wondered why the irrigation district didn’t fill the canal earlier in the season so he could flood his fields and recharge the aquifer. That was the same year Tulare Lake reformed so there was plenty of water coming down from the Sierras.

[NOVYKAT]

When families from the coastal cities are forced to move to more inland states they will realize how realistic and non superficial life really can be. Different ways of living. Different scenery. if you noticed all of the land masses sinking are the places that are the most popular cities and are overpopulated.

[chrisinhotwater]

Why would we try to stop something we cant control. Just stop building on the coast and start moving inland.

[alex]

Only in US would we consider the cost, compared to just doing the right thing undisputedly is really revolting to me.

[truthhurts]

“Moms gonna fix it all soon…
Learn to swim”

[kevinthompson]

My House is in Miami i have lost more then 3 feet of my yard and im not on the the beach im near the everglades😅

[glenburr]

I remember back in the 80’s I read an article newspaper article saying that Prince Edward Island was loosing land from rising seas every year, and by 2000, it wouldn’t be here….

[ShonnMorris]

the train situation already happened in Southern California as Amtrak had to suspend service between San Diego and LA for a while due to a combination of cliff erosion and land subsidence on the costal bluffs where the tracks are.

[xavier]

Oh no. The rich that live on the coast dont want their 10 million dollar houses going into the ocean.

[cattigereyes]

Those near the coasts will act shocked by the land losses!