"GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Streets are flooded in 'Coast Guard City, USA,' and the maritime rescue force is responding to dangerous events not seen for decades on Lake Michigan.

Boats ramming breakwalls and other objects hidden below the lake surface. People and pets nearly swept off piers by crashing waves. Swimmers fighting riptides that have drowned 30 people so far this year. Beach walkers becoming trapped between pounding surf and cliff-like dunes.

Welcome to the nation's 'Third Coast,' where climate change is fueling conditions that have turned the Great Lakes into the erratic high seas of the Midwest.

High water here has swallowed shorelines and is advancing toward homes and businesses along a 100-mile stretch from Grand Haven to New Buffalo."

Daniel Cusick reports for ClimateWire August 22, 2019. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Summer on the Swollen Great Lakes" (New York Times) [3]