In southern Nigeria, the once-vibrant fishing town of Ayetoro, home to 10,000 people, now looks like a ghost town.

Ocean surge and relentless coastal erosion have swallowed up homes, displacing hundreds of families. This is not an isolated tragedy; it's a preview of what rising sea levels could do to vulnerable communities across the United States.

80% of a community swallowed by the Atlantic

Oluwambe Ojagbohunmi, the traditional king of Ayetoro told Agence France-Presse (AFP), "We have lost like 80% of the buildings. What is left now is the kitchen. People are just converting the kitchen into residential areas."

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The town's coastline receded by an average of 50 feet every year, between 1987 and 2022, according to AFP.

Itunu Omosehin, 92, has lived in Ayetoro all her life and says she has nowhere else to go: "The houses I inherited from my parents have collapsed — my father's house has collapsed, and my mother's house has collapsed."

"All this 850 kilometres (528 miles) coastal path of Nigeria is under a massive influence of climate change now through ocean surge. So the transgressive mud where Ayetoro is is no exception," says Olatunji Adejumo, a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Lagos.

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A slow-motion crisis in the U.S.

The same kind of rapid erosion is already playing out right here in the United States.

Since 2020, 32 homes along oceanfront beaches in North Carolina's Outer Banks have collapsed. Homes that once boasted backyards, dunes and wide stretches of dry sand, have either been partially or fully washed away.

Isle de Jean Charles in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, became the site of the first federally funded climate-driven relocation in the U.S. after 98% of the small island was lost to coastal erosion. The mostly Native American community that had lived there for 170 years agreed to move further inland.

Norfolk, Virginia, has the highest rate of sea level rise on the East Coast. Land in the region is also sinking by about 2 millimeters a year. It's why the city is routinely plagued by sunny-day tidal flooding.

A century’s worth of sea level rise in 30 years

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts that over the next 30 years, sea levels along the U.S. coastline could rise by as much as 1 foot — matching the total rise we've seen over the last century. The Gulf Coast could see a rise of 1.5 feet.

NOAA's 2022 technical report warns that we will see a "profound shift" in coastal flooding by 2050, with minor flooding occurring more than 10 times as often as it does today. That means routine high tides will reach farther inland, flooding homes and streets much more often.

Experts say the clock is ticking: Coastal communities need to elevate existing buildings, move critical infrastructure back and rebuild shorelines to combat erosion.

Whether in the U.S. or abroad, the consensus is clear. Back in Nigeria, Emmanuel David Tuna, the head of the Geographic Information System with the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency says, "Water, particularly flood water, cannot be stopped. Flooding cannot be eradicated, but it can be managed. And it takes all individuals involved to manage it. When we identify areas that are prone to flooding, we urge residents and everyone to move away from this area because at the end of the day you can't stop it."