A recently released U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report concludes that the risk of coastal flooding is increasing in the Northeast because of rising sea levels and changing climate, and that without improvements to the current planning and development patterns along the coast, the impact of the next large hurricane to strike the Northeast could be equal or worse than Sandy.

These results are part of the North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study, a two-year effort by the Corps and its Federal, state, local, and non-governmental partners, to assess the flood risks facing coastal communities and ecosystems and collaboratively develop a coastal storm risk management framework to address increasing risks, which are driven in part by increased frequency and intensity of storm events and rising sea levels due to a changing climate.