Flooding makes it difficult for people to both access and safely enjoy essential activities, such as going to work and to school, meeting at community centers and places of worship, and getting outside for recreation. When buildings and transportation routes are flooded, closures arise, as well as damage that leads to continued closures while the problems are serviced.

When a business floods—such as a grocery store—there are repercussions for community members that use the site, work at the site, or own the property. Families may lose childcare, employees may lose wages, and business or building owners may lose business or incur high costs of repair—factors that can impact financial security and a sense of stability, identity, or wellbeing. When a larger area of a community floods, such as main street or a commercial district, these impacts multiply. Significant flooding can hurt the local economy and tax base, and draw heavily on municipal budgets to repair, rebuild, and adapt.

Guided Exploration:
Understanding which important local economy sites are at high risk of coastal flooding is important for resilience planning. Some of these impacted sites will be more vulnerable to the impacts of coastal flooding due to their location, proximity to impermeable surfaces, the economic sector they’re associated with, and the sites’ building infrastructure.

Open the GEAR Economy Map and select a municipality. The group of Land Use Data helps locate agricultural, commercial, and industrial land uses. Toggle on/off those layers and the Coastal Flooding layers under the Climate Hazard Data group – the Coastal Flooding Projection layers identify where coastal flooding from sea level rise and storm surge is expected to occur in 2030, 2050, and 2070.

With this information, you might consider:

• Which economic sites/areas are going to be exposed to coastal flooding in the near-term?
• Which will become increasingly vulnerable to flooding in the coming decades?
• How would/does flooding impact these sites (including transportation access to them)?
•  Are the impacts quickly resolved once flooding recedes or will they require a longer recovery period?
•  Which industries or sectors – especially those directly impacted by coastal flooding (currently or in the future) – are important to your community?
•  This could include farms, construction yards, coastal tourism, recreation, ports and marinas, marine fisheries, and aquaculture.
• Are there essential businesses and services located in these areas?
• Which sites in your community generate notable revenue for the community? (These may include historic, cultural, sporting, or performing arts sites frequented by members of the community and visitors.)
• Did you identify which transportation facilities will be affected by coastal flooding via the Infrastructure x Coastal Flooding Guide?
• What are the economic ramifications of the closures of these facilities?

Read More About Related Impacts in the Massachusetts Climate Change Assessment:

• Damage to Coastal Buildings and Ports page A51 (top impact North & South Shores)
• Economic Losses from Commercial Structure Damage and Business Interruptions page A123 (top impact Boston Harbor)

Coastal flooding will have impacts for people who work in the coastal economy—including anyone who works in marine industries (such as at ports or marinas or commercial fisheries) or in businesses tied to the coast (such as waterfront hotels or other tourism industries). Coastal flooding will also have a big impact on communities whose commercial districts are in areas with high flood risk, and for the residents who work at those businesses.  

People who work in coastal and marine sectors, including fisheries and aquaculture, coastal tourism and recreation, marine transportation, and marine construction and infrastructure may be impacted due to higher safety risks, interruptions in operations, and damage to buildings and infrastructure because of coastal flooding. Lost labor hours due to closures, interruptions, or transportation delays mean loss of income, which may disproportionately impact certain groups (MCCA, 2022, Volume II, p. 64).

Guided Exploration:
Understanding how coastal flooding causes disproportionate impacts in your community is essential to equitable resilience planning. This exploration will guide you through some data layers which provide context on the workers in your community. 

You can use the GEAR Economy Map's Coastal Flooding Projections from the previous question to review which areas the Massachusetts Coastal Flood Risk Model (MC-FRM) shows expected flooding in the 2030-, 2050-, and 2070-time horizons. Toggling on/off the Workforce Characteristics layer may help get you thinking about unemployment in your community. You can also explore the EJ and Other Priority Populations layers to think about people who might be more vulnerable to coastal flooding because of existing inequities.

• Consider the people who work for coastal and marine sectors in your community, including coastal tourism and recreation, work at ports and marinas, marine fisheries and aquaculture, among other sectors.
• What are the risks to the people working in these sectors?
• What are the implications of coastal flooding on their livelihoods?
• Who are the largest employers in the community?
• How will coastal flooding impact their employees?
•  What are common types of employment in the community (e.g., construction or property maintenance)?
• How will coastal flooding impact these employees?

Read More About Related Impacts in the Massachusetts Climate Change Assessment:

• Reduced Ability to Work page 131 (top impact Statewide, Central, Eastern Inland, North & South Shores)