Climate change could trigger toxic disasters along Lake Michigan, new report finds
Rising Lake Michigan levels, strong wind gusts and waves of nearly 10 feet high, all from extreme weather brought on by climate change, pose toxic threats to the entire lakefront — stretching from Zion to the Southeast Side and even to Northwest Indiana, a new analysis finds.
A just-released report examines possible climate-related disasters caused by high lake levels, powerful storms and erosion along Lake Michigan.
The report, by Chicago's Environmental Law and Policy Center, largely focuses on toxic hazards in four states bordering the lake but also notes that densely populated neighborhoods — including Rogers Park, Edgewater and Uptown on the North Side and South Shore on the South Side — face potentially devastating flooding if weather patterns continue as they have. Large parts of those areas may face more severe flooding as much as a half-mile inland.