Flooding in Crisfield, Maryland, in the wake of Hurricane Ophelia in 2023. Waterfront towns on the Eastern Shore are among the most imperiled by rising sea levels.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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In Oyster, Virginia, an unincorporated community that clings to an eroding spit of low-lying land on the state’s Eastern Shore, inundation has become part of daily life. Since the 1920s, sea levels here have risen by a foot and a half, and high-tide flooding is now common.
Donna Fauber, who has lived in Oyster for 20 years, has gotten in the habit of moving her car to a lot that sits on higher ground when flooding looks likely. She and her neighbors share weather updates in a group text. “We’ll say, ‘Tide’s up, move your cars,’” she says.