By Rebecca Priestley, Richard Levy, Taciano L Milfont, Timothy Naish and Zoe Heine of Following a recent storm surge in Wellington, some media coverage expressed surprise that 30cm of sea-level rise - an unavoidable amount projected to happen by the middle of this century - would turn a one-in-100-year coastal flood into an annual event. Wave crashes on to the road at Island Bay, Wellington. (File photo). Photo: Supplied / Katie Hecker Scheid Our research survey, published last week, confirms that many New Zealanders (38.2 percent) indeed underestimate current and projected sea-level rise. But it also shows a similar proportion (35 percent) overestimate it, and only about about a quarter (26.9 percent) are in line with current understanding of sea-level rise.