Major storms that once might have hit the coasts of New York and New Jersey every 500 years could soon happen every 25 years or so. That's one of the findings of a study looking back over 1,000 years.
The study by Penn State, Rutgers, Princeton and Tufts universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
It finds that flood heights have risen nearly 4 feet from the year 1850, largely because of the sea level rise.
Researchers advocate better risk management strategies to cope with future storms.
The study was released a month before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, which devastated coastal New York and New Jersey.
It says the risk of flooding increased greatly after the Industrial Revolution.
© 2015 The Associated Press.