Surge by Jeevan Vasagar

The Surge is a timely, gripping account of humanity’s battle against rising waters – and the urgent choices we must make for our future.

Rising waters are flooding cities and homes across the globe, from Florida to Nepal. By 2050, 150 million people will live below the high tide line, facing an uncertain future as cities like London and Shanghai grapple with worsening floods. In this timely, panoramic and gripping book, climate editor Jeevan Vasagar traces humanity’s responses to flooding over the centuries, from the deadly North Sea floods of 1953 to the catastrophic events of today.

He explores the costly and complicated choices governments face: fight the water with ever- expanding defences, or adapt and move? Drawing on groundbreaking engineering solutions, Vasagar argues for a radical rethink – combining resistance and accommodation as we reimagine our cities. A stark warning, but also a message of hope, The Surge is essential reading for understanding how climate change is reshaping our world – and what we can do about it.

The Surge is a timely, gripping account of humanity’s battle against rising waters – and the urgent choices we must make for our future.

About the Author:

Jeevan Vasagar is climate editor at Tortoise Media, where he presents podcasts and writes newsletters on humanity’s relationship with the planet. From 2015 to 2017 he was the Financial Times’ Singapore and Malaysia correspondent, travelling the region to report on demands for political reform, technological innovation, and the growing influence of China. Before that he was the FT‘s Berlin correspondent and spent 12 years at the Guardian as East Africa correspondent in Nairobi and education editor in London, when his reporting won a CIPR Education Journalism award. His writing has also appeared in The Economist, the LA Times and the New Statesman.

26 Feb 2026
 

The Surge: The Race Against the Most Destructive Force in Nature by Jeevan Vasagar ISBN 9780008775599