Coastal flooding from rising sea-levels could wipe one-fifth of global GDP by 2100

New research suggests 'a 1-in-100-year extreme flood event will be10 times more frequent' by the end of the century, writes Louise Boyle

Jame Rowles examines destroyed docks during Hurricane Hanna this month in Corpus Christi, Texas. Coastal flooding is expected to dramatically rise in the coming decades, according to a new study (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Coastal flooding is projected to increase by 50 per cent by the end of the century, according to a new study, with hundreds of millions of people in the path of deluges and trillions of dollars of infrastructure at risk.

The research, published on Thursday in Scientific Reports, forecasts that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and flood defences are not built, the world’s land at risk of an extreme flood event could increase by 48% by 2100 to more than 800,000 square kilometres - an area more than twice the size of Germany.

This would put 225 million people in the path of extreme flooding, along with assets estimated at $14.2 trillion (or 20% of global GDP).