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CRC in the News
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UH researchers call for new standards for building in coastal flood zones
September 2, 2025
A new study reveals a wide variety of approaches across the U.S. for establishing building elevation guidelines that account for future sea level rise, highlighting a need for more standardized methods. The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa research, published in Water, provides a critical resource for policymakers and designers in coastal communities such as Hawaiʻi who are planning for the impacts of climate change.
“With coastal high tide flooding having doubled in the U.S. in the last two decades, it’s clear that we need to build for the future, not just for the past,” said lead author Wendy Meguro, an associate professor in the UH Mānoa School of Architecture and director of the Environmental Research and Design Lab. “Our main suggestion is for policymakers and designers to plan for sea-level rise amounts projected within a building’s lifetime.” Read More…
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Storm drains connected to Ala Wai Canal could fail by 2050, UH researchers say
August 18, 2025
Hawaiʻi Public Radio | By Catherine Cruz
Countdown to 2050. That is just 25 years away, and researchers are flagging that sea level rise and the flood risk are not something to ignore. This week, University of Hawaiʻi researchers will meet with the mayor about their findings. Their work was published last month in Scientific Reports. It cautioned that Waikīkī’s storm drain system, which empties into the Ala Wai Canal, could fail sooner than people think. Chip Fletcher is the dean of the School of Ocean Earth Science and Technology, known as SOEST. Fletcher, Chloe Obara and Shellie Habel have long studied the very real threat facing communities. HPR featured Habel’s work with groundwater inundation in Waikīkī earlier this year. Read More…Photo Credit: Army Corps of Engineers
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