King tides swamp Marshall Islands

King tides overwhelmed the Marshall Islands on 3 March, causing over a thousand people to be evacuated from their homes in the capital of Majuro and neighbouring islands.
The low-lying islands are particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, with some of the coast sitting just 30cm above sea level. Some residents are already thinking about longer term displacement to other parts of the islands as strong tides become more frequent and intense, causing damage to the shoreline.

[@roncannarella]

I lived in Majuro from 1988-1990 and helped establish the RMI EPA so it was heartbreaking to watch this video. I now live in Honolulu but I get a lot of local news via the "coconut wireless" from friends passing through and at my Marshallese neighbors. These "king tides" never once hit Majuro while I was living there; they began happening several years ago. They are giant "lenses" of water that slowly move from west to east and effect each of the islands in Micronesia differently. I first heard of the one that hit Majuro at Christmas time in 2008 (Gif, correct me on that year). It was reported in our local Honolulu newspaper in one small paragraph, but when I went to a regional forestry conference that year, I heard about the real impact that it had on Majuro; graves floating out of the ground, people huddled at the Catholic church in the middle of the night, garbage and very unsanitary lagoon debris left everywhere, homes destroyed . . . several months later at the annual meeting of foresters in the Pacific islands that the same high tides had hit Chuuk several months earlier. The high islands were not as affected; they are made of rock and have actual mountains and soil. The atolls are not made of rock; they are simply mounds of sand on large stretches of coral reef that are covered in vegetation.
These "king tides" are relatively new, but becoming more frequent events. These events go on for weeks, and each high tide washes more debris onto the island and onto the airport in Majuro which is vital to the Marshall Islands, but also as a mid-oceanic international airport. Last year during a king tide, the regular Air Micronesia international "Island Hopper" flight from Honolulu to Guam had to abort its first stop, which is Majuro, because that king tide was timed to washso much debris onto the airport that they could not land. The DC10 approached the runway and had to abort the landing. The airport was cleared when the next flight arrived on schedule two days later.
And Majuro airport serves two functions; it is the international airport for Majuro, which is now home to 30,000 or more people and the Capital of a country which has huge strategic importance for the USA. The airport is also used as a water catchment for storing rainwater. When I moved to Majuro in 1987, the airport water catchment was the only source of fresh water for the urban core. So contaminating the airport with filthy lagoon water, garbage and debris, to the point where their only international link to the world, Air Micronesia, cannot land is in itself a big deal. Having the municipal landfill (which was built out on the oceanside reef flat) and graves floating into homes on a regular basis is a big deal.
Are these "king tides" due to climate change, ocean warming or sea level rise? Hell yes they are. They weren't happening when I lived there in 1988, and now they happen all the time. My friends on Ailanglaplap and Mili atolls are saying the same thing is happening there as well. But those atolls are not densely populated urbanized areas like Majuro is now.
But strangely enough, I have not heard any news of these king tides on the next important stop of Air Micronesia after Majuro, and that is Kwajalein Atoll. Ever hear of Kwaj? Probably not. Kwajalein atoll is leased by the United States and serves as one of the USA's most important missile testing sites. The atoll is like a giant bullesye for missiles that are fired from Barking Sands Missile Testing Range on the island of Kauai, in Hawaii. Kwajalein looks like a community college campus in Florida; complete with a golf course (great sand traps by the way), supermarket, movie theater, and everyone gets around on bicycles as they go to work tracking whatever it is that they are tracking. On "missile testing days" people are asked to stay indoors just in case the missile lobbed from Kauai is a few miles off course.
Surely, these king tides are eating away at Kwaj too.
Hey Gif, how's the golf course doing on Kwaj? Good thing that they get an hour or so heads up from Air Mike if it has to skip Majuro so that they can check the runway and deal with the passengers who were supposed to get off in Majuro (Kwaj is after all a military installation), so civilians are not allowed to even get off of the airplane, and the Marshallese who are going to Ebeye are shunted through a security system and loaded onto the boats to take them on the 20 minute ride to neighboring Ebeye island, home to another 20,000 Marshallese.
I have worked here in Honolulu for the Department of Land and Natural Resources for 20 years, but I have maintained my contacts in Micronesia, and especially in the Marshalls. The country and the Marshallese people are extraordinarily beautiful. For the time being, I think that they will have no choice but to adapt to these king tides which seem to be happening more frequently. They come and go like droughts or winter cold fronts. The bottled water industry will boom. RMI EPA board should deal with this, but they didn't need to see this great video to know the problem. Believe me, they KNOW because they have the wisdom of the world's greatest oceanic civilization in their DNA.
As for the dredging of the lagoon - that should stop immediately. JK, CP and CD, haven't you made enough money already? And Gif, call them and the politicians on the EPA Board out for turning a blind eye to any more damage to the natural defenses of the atoll. You are the "free press" after all and what do you have to lose (besides your own house, that is.) But seriously folks, give the Ri Majol as much time as possible to adapt to these king tides, and mark my words, the first hurricane that will probably hit Majuro in generations will be upon us in a decade. Round of drinks is on me if I'm wrong. Conventional wisdom was that Hawaii was immune to hurricanes, but this year the Big Island was hit dead-on for the first time in history. Lucky for us, four 13,000 foot mountains shredded it before it had a chance to flatten the lower islands like Oahu (with our 1,400 foot mountain). So that one was yet another "first" time event. An anomaly, perhaps. But too many anomalies become a trend of anomalies, and that is how climate change will happen. Colder cold areas, wetter wet areas, more hurricanes hitting Arizona (two in this decade alone).
Weather is what happens during the week, and is measured by the memory of a generation. Climate is weather that is measured in geological time. I believe that we are witnessing several generations worth of weather weirdness in our lifetimes. And the Fourth Great Extinction of Species is just about over, simply because we are running out of species to extinguish. It's as if we have killed off the dinasours in a mere 150 years; bison, rhinos, gorillas, tigers . . . gone, except in "game preserves" which are simply zoos made out of fences and maps. And they are as safe as the fences that surround them.
Humans caused the current Great Extinction of Species, so why does it seem so implausible to people that we may be causing just as profound an impact to our atmosphere and thus change the climate, warm the seas, melt the glaciers, expand the deserts?
Cause the Majuro airport to be flooded with garbage for a few weeks a year?
As for the long term . . . I would submit to the Nitijela that the Marshallese petition the USA to provide for their people a new parcel of land for them to resettle as one nation. A Marshallese "Israel" if you will. One that will be there in 2000 years (e.g. probably avoid Florida for example, maybe Palm Springs or Humboldt county. And you're always loved and welcomed in Makiki too.
Good luck RMI. Na i bar i yokwe kom.

[@jeffdell9472]

If there is a significant anthropogenic component to 'climate change', this video is not proof of it...here is the regional news release from that day's events:
TRANSCRIPT
A high tide coupled with storm surges has flooded many parts of Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, forcing some people to stay in temporary shelters.
The United States Embassy in Majuro says the widespread inundation started around four o'clock this morning when the tide was high.
Our correspondent, Giff Johnson, says some homes have been damaged by flooding and there is a big clean up underway.
GIFF JOHNSON: Every year in February and March are the highest tides of the year in the Marshall Islands so it is not unusual for us to get flooding in some of the low areas but this morning early before sunrise the high tide was accompanied by storm surges, apparently a storm to the east of Japan has created a wave surge and this fueled this high tide so we had flooding through many parts of Majuro atoll, the capital. I am sure some of the outer islands also have been experiencing the same kind of inundation. So far, as we can tell, no injuries, but quite a number of houses are damaged and a lot of debris up on the roads and so on...
www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/2587631/parts-of-marshall-islands-flooded-by-high-tide-and-storm-surges
"high tide coupled with storm surges"...no one should be hysterically crying "Climate Change!" over this video...