Rural versus urban perspective on coastal flooding: The insights from the U.S. Mid-Atlantic communities

This paper identifies the underlying complexities and contextual influences that shape the responses to chronic and episodic coastal flooding in rural and urban communities along the Mid Atlantic seaboard. It elucidates stakeholders’ perspectives on the contemporary and emerging coastal challenges, adaptation and hazard mitigation options, the possibility of relocation, and the risk information needs. Twenty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted in different urban and rural coastal jurisdictions on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Hampton Roads in Virginia in May 2015. The core inquiries focused on the risk perceptions of evolving coastal hazards such as sea level rise and nuisance flooding; preferences for different response strategies; support for relocation; data and information needs, and barriers and opportunities for proactive adaptation. The results show a significant heterogeneity in risk perceptions and support for different response strategies, including relocation, mostly reflecting unique contextual dimensions of individual localities. Even though the majority of participants admit that the problem exists, they diverge on what exactly the problem is, how relevant it is for their household and the community, what needs to be done about it, and what are the best mechanisms to address it. Relocation is more frequently acknowledged as a viable and even inevitable response strategy by professionals working in the emergency and floodplain management than by the local decision-makers and residents. The findings suggest that the coastal flooding response efforts should focus on increasing the adaptive and coping capacity in synergy with other local demographic, socioeconomic, and development trends.