Climate change doesn’t just mean a warming planet. It brings with it rising tides and more extreme weather events that endanger communities globally, and right here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

That’s why Save The Bay has developed our San Francisco Bay Sea Level Rise & Flood Strategy, to ensure our region is resilient.

Sea Level Rise and Flooding in the Bay Area

Climate change is already having a profound impact on our communities, and the risks posed are only increasing. Homes that don’t flood today may experience regular flooding from rising seas, rising groundwater, and more extreme storms in the future (as illustrated below).

The map below reflects a conservative projection of flooding in the Bay Area with up to 3.3 feet of sea level rise by 2050. The map depicts flooding due to sea level rise and groundwater.

Regional Strategy for Resilience

While California has long-standing policies to reduce the impacts of natural disasters like earthquakes and wildfires, sea level rise and flooding due to climate change are still largely left to cities and counties to address. This has led to an inconsistent and inequitable patchwork approach that leaves many communities unprepared.

Save The Bay is acting now to ensure that Bay Area governments create a climate-resilient regional plan for sea level rise and flooding. Our San Francisco Bay Sea Level Rise & Flood Strategy will guide our advocacy on regional flood resilience planning and help us create a more resilient region.

Our advocacy is based on these key principles:

The Solution: Local Action

Through effective planning, city and county governments play a large role in protecting their residents from sea level rise and flooding. They can set standards to ensure buildings in flood zones are flood-resilient, upgrade critical infrastructure, preserve and restore wetlands, and build shoreline protection infrastructure. In our Local Sea Level Rise and Flood Resilience Policies Report, we present a list of best-practice local policies that Bay Area cities and counties should adopt to prepare for increased flooding.

City Flood Resilience Scores

Using our list of flood resilience policies, we assigned scores to Bay Area cities based on how many of 48 recommended policies they have implemented. Click on the cities below to explore how well they’re prepared for sea level rise and what more they need to do.

Key Flood Resilience Plans & Policies

Below are examples of key flood resilience policies that we evaluated cities on.

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