City officials predict that by 2050 parts of Seattle will be under water at high tide as global sea levels rise. At a press conference held Monday on the edge of Elliott Bay near downtown Seattle, the City Council announced a new plan to take action on climate change.
Councilmember Mike O’Brien stood before the wintery gray waters of Puget Sound and pointed to a large map of the Seattle shoreline.
O’Brien said the effects of climate change will hit Seattle right where it hurts: the industrial shipping zone at Harbor Island, a hotspot of West Coast maritime trade. The report projects that over half of Harbor Island would be under water in a regular high tide event by the year 2050.