Millions of people flock to Washington, D.C., each spring to take selfies among the cherry blossoms, but this year they were met with more than cherry blossoms. Every day — twice a day at high tide — portions of the walkway around the Tidal Basin flood with several inches of water. Some of the roughly 2,500 cherry trees around the basin have water lapping at exposed roots, others are completely inundated, and numerous park benches are partially submerged. The cherry trees were first planted more than a century ago, a gift from the mayor of Tokyo and a symbol of international friendship. There are two forces working together to undermine the Tidal Basin and the trees and monuments around it. The land around the basin, built using mud dredged up from the Potomac River bottom, is sinking. That has allowed the land to settle by about five feet over the past century. At the same time, the water level has gone up by more than a foot because of climate change. This year, the cherry trees reached peak bloom at the second-earliest date on record and for 158 of them it will be their last bloom. The trees will be cut down later this spring as part of a project to rebuild and raise the seawalls around the basin.
