History Main / FloodedFutureWorld

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': The Foundation narrowly averted one of these at [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2894 SCP-2894]]. The site was originally an island containing an underground portal to an alien sea, which constantly expelled water into the Earth's oceans. This caused global sea levels to rise steadily, and Foundation scientists predicted that the two worlds' sea levels would only equalize well after the Earth was completely flooded by water. In the end, the apocalypse was only prevented by [[spoiler:retroactively erasing the island and the portal from existence]].

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' narrowly averted one of these with [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2894 SCP-2894.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Drowntown}}'': Future London has become a CityOfCanals, thanks to Climate Change. Among other things, the flooding means that water-based transport is now considerably more common -- one of the main characters is an aqua-courier, riding through what used to be streets.

* ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence'': The backstory has Climate Change destroying Earth's ecosystems and causing sea levels to rise by a hundred meters. Most of the Third World is effectively uninhabitable, while the rich nations managed to use their advanced technology to survive.

* ''Literature/TheExpanse'': Climate Change has resulted in many coastal buildings getting lost in the water. While those in space are killing each other over water, Earth is practically drowning in it.

* ''Literature/StarCarrier'': Climate Change combined with a couple {{Colony Drop}}s has caused much of the low-lying east coast of North America to become flooded, to the point where it was necessary to move the capital of the [[ExpandedStatesOfAmerica United States of North America]] to Columbus, Ohio.

* ''Literature/TheWindupGirl'': This is a major background element and plot point. The novel takes place in 23rd century Bangkok, which is actually below sea level after Climate Change has taken its toll and only survives thanks to enormous sea-walls and powerful pumps that work throughout the monsoon season.

This kind of setting can be brought about by various reasons, although most involve some kind of natural or unnatural disaster. In modern fiction, this often takes the form of a GreenAesop about ClimateChange, as potentially catastrophic rise in sea levels are a very real danger of greenhouse conditions melting the polar ice caps and sending their meltwater into the ocean. In more fantastical settings, this may occur in the wake of TheGreatFlood if the waters never recede.

Subtrope of AfterTheEnd, ClimateChange, and SingleBiomePlanet. In regards to ApocalypseHow, these events are of planetary scale but their level of disruption varies between works. Remaining civilization may be prone to OceanPunk.

* ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'': The HumongousMecha were originally developed to construct barrier dams to protect coastal cities from being flooded due to ClimateChange. {{Downplayed|Trope}}, as the flooding is not catastrophic and is merely part of the background.

* ''ComicBook/{{Drowntown}}'': Future London has become a CityOfCanals, thanks to ClimateChange. Among other things, the flooding means that water-based transport is now considerably more common -- one of the main characters is an aqua-courier, riding through what used to be streets.

* ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence'': The backstory has ClimateChange destroying Earth's ecosystems and causing sea levels to rise by a hundred meters. Most of the Third World is effectively uninhabitable, while the rich nations managed to use their advanced technology to survive.
* ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'': A ClimateChange catastrophe causes New York City to flood. Then the falling temperature causes the flood waters to freeze over.

* ''Film/TheWorldSinksExceptJapan'': ClimateChange has made the sea levels rise so much that every landmass in the world has sunk... except for Japan.

* ''Literature/ConcienciaYVoluntad'' takes place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, where runaway ClimateChange has sunk all coastal cities -- the walls around [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas La Plata]] are partly to keep the waters at bay, and partly to provide cover against the roamers of the ruins of sunken Buenos Aires.

* ''Literature/TheExpanse'': ClimateChange has resulted in many coastal buildings getting lost in the water. While those in space are killing each other over water, Earth is practically drowning in it.

* ''Literature/NewYork2140'': In the titular year, the BigApplesauce has become a CityOfCanals not unlike Venice due to ClimateChange.
* ''Literature/StarCarrier'': ClimateChange combined with a couple {{Colony Drop}}s has caused much of the low-lying east coast of North America to become flooded, to the point where it was necessary to move the capital of the [[ExpandedStatesOfAmerica United States of North America]] to Columbus, Ohio.

* ''Literature/TheWindupGirl'': This is a major background element and plot point. The novel takes place in 23rd century Bangkok, which is actually below sea level after ClimateChange has taken its toll and only survives thanks to enormous sea-walls and powerful pumps that work throughout the monsoon season.

In modern fiction, this often takes the form of a GreenAesop about ClimateChange, as potentially catastrophic rise in sea levels are a very real danger of greenhouse conditions melting the polar ice caps and sending their meltwater into the ocean. This kind of setting can be brought about by other reasons, although most involve some kind of natural or unnatural disaster. In more fantastical settings, this may occur in the wake of TheGreatFlood if the waters never recede.

* ''Film/SplitSecond1992'' (1992) takes place in ([[DatedHistory then-]]) TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (in 2008), after the melting of the Arctic ice raised water levels around the world. The movie itself is set in a partially-flooded London, large portions of which have had to be abandoned to the rising waters.

* ''Film/SplitSecond'' (1992) takes place in ([[DatedHistory then-]]) TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (in 2008), after the melting of the Arctic ice raised water levels around the world. The movie itself is set in a partially-flooded London, large portions of which have had to be abandoned to the rising waters.

* ''[[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Setting:CATastrophe CATastrophe]]'': A CosyCatastrophe setting created by the collaborative effort of [[Website/FourChan /tg/]]. It's the future, the humanity have gone extinct and the sea levels have risen, leaving only semi-submerged ruins and small islands. All of which are roamed by {{Cat Girl}}s. Much, ''much'' better than it sounds.

* As in ths books Earth in ''Series/TheExpanse'' has experienced significant sea level change. Several shots of the opening credits show time lapse images of melting glaciers and sea walls being constructed to protected Liberty Island and the rest of New York which also shows up in several epsiodes as part of their establishing shots.
* One alternate Earth from ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' featured a San Francisco that was inundated by water, leaving the Sliders team clinging to the unsubmerged tip of the Transamerica Pyramid as a refuge from sharks.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': When Adam/Antarctica blew up during Second Impact, a "ripple" [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom almost a quarter-mile (four-hundred meters) tall in places]] spread outward, wiping out every coastal city in the southern hemisphere and resulting in a lot of [[SunkenCity underwater real estate]].

* ''Film/SplitSecond'' takes place in ([[DatedHistory then-]]) TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (in 2008), after the melting of the Arctic ice raised water levels around the world. The movie itself is set in a partially-flooded London, large portions of which have had to be abandoned to the rising waters.

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

* ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' takes place thousands of years later in the encompassing ''Mega Man'' timeline, and the opening narration states that the world is filled with water. What few settlements left around the world exist on islands or are built over the ruins of a past civilizations, if not both. Earlier installments in the Mega Man franchise show much more landmass among the various areas of the world.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' takes place thousands of years later in the encompassing ''Mega Man'' timeline, and the opening narration states that the world is filled with water. What few settlements left around the world exist on islands or are built over the ruins of a past civilizations, if not both. Earlier installments in the Mega Man franchise show much more landmass among the various areas of the world.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'': The Great Sea the game is set in what remains of the ancient kingdom of Hyrule after it was [[TheGreatFlood flooded by the gods]] in order to protect it from [[BigBad Ganondorf]] when the Hero of Time did not reappear to save it. The islands of the sea are the highest mountaintops of the ancient kingdom, to which the people of Hyrule were forced to flee as the oceans rose.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In "Our Man Bashir", this is the goal of Franchise/JamesBond-esque villain Dr. Noah -- flood the Earth and wash away humanity, save for a few survivors at Noah's facility on Mt. Everest who will become a new human race.

* ''VideoGame/CivilizationIV'': In the expansion "Gathering Storm", the coasts can become flooded if enough carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.

* Creator/MohiroKitoh's short manga ''Ekrano'' takes place in such a future, with the Earth covered in a global ocean infested with sea monsters called Kujirani.

In more downplayed settings, humanity may be able to scrape along in the drowned lowlands, sometimes inhabiting the higher reaches of buildings or natural formations poking above the waterline, or may retreat altogether to higher ground. In the most intense cases of global flooding, survivors will often be forced to live on rafts, ships and other waterborne vehicles drifting along the currents, although luckier sorts may be able to hold on in a CityOnTheWater or an UnderwaterCity. Either way, humanity will likely develop into highly nautical societies. Survivors will typically have to deal with intense resource scarcity, since all the stone and metal and forests are at the bottom of the sea, and remaining artifacts and technology will be rare and precious commodities. This often leads to a full-on ScavengerWorld if they come to rely on gathering flotsam or diving to submerged ruins for artifacts and materials. In cases where islands or other emerged lands exist, they'll either be the main refuge of society or semi-mythical promised lands the seabound survivors yearn to find.

Subtrope of AfterTheEnd, ClimateChange and SingleBiomePlanet. In regards to ApocalypseHow, these events are of planetary scale but their level of disruption varies between works. Remaining civilization may be prone to OceanPunk.

* ''Anime/GargantiaOnTheVerdurousPlanet'' is set in the distant future, where the Earth has turned into a giant ocean without a single piece of land above water. Humanity survives by pillaging sunken ships and submerged ruins and connecting dozens to hundreds of ships to enormous fleets such as the eponymous Gargantia, and coexists with the powerful, intelligent Whale Squids that also inhabit the future oceans.

* ''Manga/YokohamaKaidashiKikou'': Due to an environmental shift whose details are largely unrevealed, sea levels have risen dramatically, [[SunkenCity submerging a great many costal cities]] completely.

[[folder:Comic Book]]

* ''Videogame/{{Brink}}'': TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, global warming and rising sea levels have rendered most of the earth a giant ocean, with the Ark, a CityOnTheWater built before the flooding, and a few mountaintops as the only known places where humans survive. The Ark itself is suffering an OverpopulationCrisis due to holding nine times as many people as it was originally designed to host, leading to resource shortages, severe wealth inequality, resentment between the refugee community and the Ark's Founders and eventual civil war.

* ''VideoGame/{{Hydrophobia}}'' takes place in a future where much of the world is flooded and massive ships now serves as floating cities.
* ''VideoGame/InTheHunt'' is set in the distant future, after the powerful D.A.S. terrorist organization unleashed a doomsday device that caused the polar icecaps to melt and flood most major cities in the world. Players assume control of a powerful prototype submarine as they battle through legions and legions of D.A.S. enemies in six underwater-themed levels.

* ''VideoGame/LethalSkies'' is set in an OceanPunk type setting after melting glaciers have flooded most of the planet.
* ''VideoGame/{{Raft}}'': In the full Steam version, it's revealed that the reason you are LostAtSea is because of the ice caps melting and submerging most of the world. While there were some attempts to prevent this through reforestation projects, the government thought they cost too much money, and spent their funding on floating cities and yachts instead.

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': Post-Scratch Earth turns into this once the former empress of the trolls takes over and [[HostileTerraforming Alterniaforms]] it into a state more comfortable for an aquatic alien like herself. By the time her flood is done, humans are all but extinct and Earth is completely covered by oceans, broken only by floating prefab slums home to alien exiles and by Dirk's home on top of a ruined skyskraper.