If you think that "nothing has happened in the way of coastal flooding" over the past 60 years, I can only conclude you are not familiar with the actual data on this.

NOAA has a long record of data from tide gauges all around the coastlines of the U.S. And that data shows unequivocally that rising sea level is causing more days of high-tide, aka "nuisance," flooding. Let me take you on a tour, courtesy the Climate Explorer in the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, to...

Bar Harbor, Maine

...where between 1960 and 1990, there were only 4 years with more than 5 days of high-tide flooding, while between 1990 and 2020 there were 14 such years; this increase is despite the fact that ice-age rebounding of the land there is partially offsetting the impact of global sea level rise!

And then southward to...

Boston, Mass.,

...where between 1960 and 1990, there were only 2 years with more than 5 days of high-tide flooding, while between 1990 and 2020 there were 13 such years.

And then southward again to...

Sandy Hook, NJ,

...where from 1960-1990, there was a grand total of 1 year that had more than 5 days of high-tide flooding, while from 1990-2020, there were 16 such years.

Norfolk, VA,

...where before before 1990 there wasn't a single year with more than 5 days of high-tide flooding, but since then there have been 18 such years...

Carrying on around the coast to the Southeast and Gulf, we find...

Wilmington, NC--

...where before 1990, there were 2 years with any amount of high-tide flooding (1 day in 1987, and 1 day in 1954), but since then there have been 10 such years.

Fort Pulaski, GA

...where before 1990 there were zero years with more than 5 days of high-tide flooding, but since then, there have been 8 such years.

Galveston Pier, TX

...where prior to 1990, they had never recorded a year with more than 5 days of high-tide flooding, but since then, they've had 11.

If i kept going around the coast, the increases would get smaller because local land processes do more to offset global sea level rise on the West Coast than they do on the East Coast. But the overall national trend is crystal clear.

I'm glad you appreciate the ENSO blog, but science is science, and data are data, and here at Climate.gov, we cover it all. Sea level rise and increases in coastal flooding are real, and communities all around the country are facing their impacts. When that topic intersects with ENSO, you're going to find us talking about it here on the blog. 

If you'd like to learn more about how and why the rates of sea level rise vary from place around the U.S., this interactive map should be useful. If you'd like to learn more about projected increases in high-tide flooding with future warming of difference amounts, visit the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit.