Economic evaluation of sea-level rise adaptation strongly influenced by hydrodynamic feedbacks: Dataset 1

Coastal communities rely on levees and seawalls as critical protection
against sea-level rise; in the U.S. alone, $300 billion in shoreline
armoring costs are forecast by 2100. But despite the local flood risk
reduction benefits, these structures can exacerbate flooding and
associated damages along other parts of the shoreline—particularly in
coastal bays and estuaries, where nearly 500 million people globally are
at risk from sea-level rise. The magnitude and spatial distribution of the
economic impact of this dynamic, however, are poorly understood. Here we
combine hydrodynamic and economic models to assess the extent of both
local and regional flooding and damages expected from a range of shoreline
protection and sea-level rise scenarios in San Francisco Bay, California.
We find that protection of individual shoreline segments (5-75 km) can
increase flooding in other areas by as much as 36 million cubic
meters and damages by $723 million for a single flood event, and
in some cases can even cause regional flood damages that exceed the local
damages prevented from protection. We also demonstrate that strategic
flooding of certain shoreline segments, such as those with gradually
sloping baylands and space for water storage, can help alleviate flooding
and damages along other stretches of the coastline. By matching the scale
of the economic assessment to the scale of the threat, we reveal the
previously uncounted costs associated with uncoordinated adaptation
actions and demonstrate that a regional planning perspective is essential
for reducing shared risk and wisely spending adaptation resources in
coastal bays. This dataset is associated with a github
repository https://github.com/rmgriffin/OLU-flood-externalities
This dataset is part of a two record data repository associated with the
paper "Economic evaluation of sea-level rise adaptation strongly
influenced by hydrodynamic feedbacks." This is part one.