If any single place in Rhode Island is most vulnerable to rising seas, it could be this city of 24,000 people on the Atlantic Ocean.

NEWPORT, R.I. — If any single place in Rhode Island is most vulnerable to rising seas, it could be this city of 24,000 people on the Atlantic Ocean.

With portions of its centuries-old downtown sitting on filled land and with storm surges and extreme high tides already causing the occasional flooding of its waterfront streets, Newport is facing a future in which it must adapt to higher seas or suffer the consequences through property damage or loss.

Consider that nearly 17 percent of Newport’s 11,787 buildings and other structures are located in the flood zone, Melissa A. Barker, GIS coordinator for the city, told a special legislative commission on sea level rise at a recent meeting. Or that one small area of infill in the historic Point neighborhood is home to $5 million worth of buildings, including a Marriott hotel.

“We always have flooding issues in that area. Mother Nature tries to reclaim what was once hers,” Barker said to the members of the House Commission on Economic Risk Due to Flooding and Sea Rise.

With 968 historic structures in the flood zone, the City By the Sea is at the extreme end of what communities throughout the state are dealing with. There are 294 historic structures in the flood zone in North Kingstown, 319 in Bristol and hundreds more in other cities and towns. Part of the commission’s task is looking at ways to make those structures, which are key to the state’s tourism industry, more resilient, said Rep. Lauren H. Carson, who chairs the group.

“It’s an important issue for us,” the Newport Democrat said.

Sea levels have risen 9.1 inches in Newport since 1930 and state regulators say the trend will continue. The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council is now in the midst of considering new projections for rising seas to account for a faster rate of increase than is currently in its planning documents.

Under a proposal that will be reviewed at a meeting Tuesday, the state Coastal Resources Management Council would adopt figures compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that project one foot of sea level rise by 2035, two feet by 2050 and seven feet by 2100.

The proposal to adopt the higher figures aims to help builders and planners better assess coastal projects for future vulnerability, said Jim Boyd, coastal policy analyst for the council.

“The CRMC is promoting the use of these [sea-level rise] curves in evaluating projects to ensure public safety and to minimize risk in public and private expenditures,” Boyd said in an email.

The special House commission is also working to mitigate the risks from rising seas to the Rhode Island economy. It was created through a bill in the General Assembly last year and its members include state legislators and academics, as well as representatives of the insurance and tourism industries.

They have held four meetings so far that have included case studies on the effects of superstorm Sandy on Westerly in 2012 and the potential risks from rising seas to the Port of Providence and presentations from state Department of Environmental Management director Janet Coit and CRMC director Grover Fugate.

The commission has one more meeting scheduled so far, on Feb. 25, in which its members will consider making policy recommendations and whether there is a need for additional research.

At the recent meeting on Newport, Teresa Crean, community planner with the Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island, showed a photograph of Ann Street Pier underwater during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and another of a kayaker paddling along Market Square, flooded during superstorm Sandy.

“We’re likely to see these water levels as the new normal,” she said.

The threat to Newport and the rest of Rhode Island is clear, Carson said.

“We’ve learned some alarming things about risk and exposure in the state,” she said.

akuffner@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7457

On Twitter: @KuffnerAlex