KZN coastal municipalities warned of tropical cyclones
A local geologist is urging KwaZulu-Natal's coastal municipalities to prepare for the possible arrival of tropical cyclones in the near future.
UKZN Professor Andrew Green led a study into seabed sediments off the coast of Durban.
His team's probe revealed that storms were more severe than they are now due to higher sea levels in the past.
But he says we're likely to experience more extreme weather events in response to global warming.
Green says while tropical storms are usually confined to Mozambique, climate change and ocean warming should force other coastal cities like Durban and Richards Bay to prepare for them too.
"Any coastal city in the world, whether it is subject to cyclones or not should be preparing for the fact that we have sea levels that are rising and with those rising sea levels even if we don't have a storm occurring, it's going to being to threaten coastal infrastructure.
"So everyone should have a plan and that needs to be a situation where coastal infrastructure is stepped back away from the coastline.
"In doing that not only are you preparing for sea-level rise but you are also preparing for the eventuality of having increased storms with intensity and frequency that we are not yet seeing currently."
ALSO READ:
