To Soften a Hurricane's Blow, Don't Drain the Swamp
Wetlands directly prevented half a billion dollars in damages during Hurricane Sandy, a new study has found.
If a hurricane-addled storm surge is barreling toward your coastline, there aren’t many ways to stop it. There are no ocean-sized sump pumps. Giant, Squarepants-style coastal sponges don’t exist either.
Except they kind of do. Wetlands and marshes—the water-permeated thickets of grass and muck that sit on the edge of much of the Atlantic coast—can slow the extra sea water and absorb the surge’s excess energy. They are, in their way, continental sponges. And a new study finds that, when
