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D.C. Is First to Plan to Remove, Retrofit Flood-Prone Buildings

  • City sets goal for 2050 as threat from climate change worsens
  • Challenges include new housing, addressing federal buildings
Internal Revenue Service headquarters building in Washington, D.C.

Internal Revenue Service headquarters building in Washington, D.C.

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
From

Washington is announcing a goal of retrofitting or removing all of its flood-prone buildings by 2050, the first major U.S. city to set such a policy.

The proposal is part of a broader plan to protect Washington, which is home to 700,000 people and the headquarters of most federal agencies, from climate change and other threats. That plan, called “Resilient DC” and released Monday, sets a range of goals for coping with increasingly severe floods and heat waves, the major climate stresses projected for the city, which sits at the junction of the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers.