Climate change doesn't just affect the living. It disturbs the dead, too.

When you bury your family, you think they're there forever.

It's Tuesday, May 7th, and just like every day, today is Science Friday.

I'm Cyfry producer Kathleen Davis.

Flooded cemeteries have been a problem in Louisiana for decades.

With climate change eroding coastlines and making storms more powerful, the problem is just getting worse.

There's a need for expertise on how to protect burial grounds across the country from not just flooding,

but other natural disasters too.

So all eyes are on the few experts there are in this

field for guidance. Joining me now to talk about this is my guest.

Eva Test Phi, Coastal Reporter at W&O in New Orleans,

who reported this story in collaboration with Science Friday.

Eva, welcome back to Science Friday.

Thanks for having me.

So to start, give me a sense of the scale of this issue in Louisiana. I mean how common is it that a cemetery gets flooded?

Yeah, so it happens pretty much with every major storm. The company I spoke to that recover cemeteries they've been

working since Katrina they've done it during Rita Ike Harvey Laura Delta Ida it's

also just known to happen when there's really bad flooding.

There doesn't even have to be a storm. So there were floods in 2016 that we can get

into a little bit later. Okay, so cemeteries are set up differently across the US. How are people buried in Louisiana

cemeteries? So the unique thing about Louisiana is often the grades are above ground. We have a lot of mausoleums, a lot of what are called surface

vaults where most of it is in the ground and there's just kind of a slab on top. And in New Orleans, like a tour guide will tell you that has to do with the city's

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