Category:Floods at the United States Naval Academy

Annapolis being built over a knoll on the crown of which is the State House, the original buildings of the USNA were on the seaward slopes of the knoll. Flooding was never a problem. This part of the Academy might be called the upper grounds. The location of the Chapel typifies it. In the latter 20th century the Academy expanded from 3600 to over 4000 midshipmen. Landward expansion was blocked by the town. The architects acquired space by landfill on the Severn side, where most of the modern buildings were constructed. This region might be called the lower grounds. The scientific community of the mid-20th century had no suspicion beyond wild calamity conjectures that in the 21st century the melting of the polar ice caps would accelerate and oceanic levels would begin to rise; consequently, they left the lower grounds undefended against such an event. Storm flooding, the first phase of the problem, has begun there. In subsequent decades the problem is expected to become more severe more rapidly.