The First US City About to Drown: Miami

[RobertEarl]

Sea level rise is "a measurable, trackable and relentless reality," task force Chairman Harvey Ruvin, a longtime environmentalist and the Miami-Dade county Clerk of the Courts, wrote in the report's introductory letter. "It's happening, and we are ground zero," he added in an interview, noting the vulnerability to climate change of low-lying southeast Florida, with a population of 5.7 million.

Climate change is already impacting Florida coastal communities, which could see a 2-foot rise in sea level by 2060, the United States Geological Survey has warned. Florida had recorded 5-8 inches of sea level rise in the last 50 years, a panel of officials and scientists testified at a Senate hearing on Miami Beach in April.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/01/us-usa-florida-sealevel-miami-idUSKBN0F65IN20140701

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We should all pitch in and save Miami. Seawalls 'R' US.

Norfolk Va., is just behind Miami. Indeed there is some fierce competition for first place. Norfolk may make the news this weekend as hurricane Arthur may just make Norfolk become Nor-flooded-folk.

We do live in interesting times, eh?

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, RobertEarl.

[RobertEarl]

4. Thank you, Joe.

Can you imagine the worries of the people there? 5.7 million possible refugees!! Not to mention the financial losses, even with seawalls. I mean, seawalls and no beaches, and no safe ports because they are flooded, and the drinking water turning salty.

I tell folks in the mountains to get ready, because where else are those poor folks going to go but to higher ground?

[Uncle Joe]

7. I hear you, RobertEarl.

I have a strong feeling, the disaster on the Gulf Coast from Katrina will just be a minor appetizer of a dreaded banquet to come.

[hatrack]

2. Speaking of this weekend . . .

I hear the North Carolina Legislature is going to pass a law lowering wind speeds and storm surge height.

So if you have a home on the Outer Banks, no worries!!

[RobertEarl]

5. What else can they do?

Outlaw sea level rise!! We have a fine bunch here. A fine, fine bunch of real dumb lawyers thinking all they have to do is pass a law, and all is good. .

[CreekDog]

8. they are going to require the state climatologist to work overtime this weekend

to attempt to prove that everything is normal and just dandy!

[Uncle Joe]

19. They have a plan B in case it gets bad.

[gordianot]

3. I figure it will take expediture of finances for some to acknowledge climate change.

Will it be too late?

[RobertEarl]

6. I think it is too late.

I think the folks in Miami know that, and that is why they are reduced to ' all we can do now is adapt'.

The deniers will deny right up to the time they are flooded out. I've seen it on river banks and seashores since i was a kid. As much as i'd like to live by the water, i will leave it to the true aquatic animals.

[gordianot]

9. The terrible part no one really knows the true outcome, water world with desert or ice age.

[RobertEarl]

12. Ice age would save Miami

Used to be Florida's seashore was a whole lot further out, in the last ice age. There is a theory i saw on DU that as things change, there could be such a flip that a new ice age would begin. Oh, the last ice age had glaciers down into Tennessee. So that would cause problems, too.

[calimary]

10. I once knew a family that owned an island. For awhile I thought - MAN, THAT is the living end!

I fantasized about being so successful I could buy my own island someday. Suffice it to say I gave up on that dream, and willingly! Even if I somehow had that kind of money, that's STILL the farthest thing from my mind and nowhere in my fantasies. There are islands that are literally going under - NOW.

[RobertEarl]

13. See those ocean side condos?

Since i was a kid i envisioned them as being part of new coral reefs. I'm just weird, or maybe wired, that way.

Miami is like an island. On the east is the ocean, and the west the Everglades. The 'Glades are about 5 feet above sea level.

[hatrack]

11. WAIS alone guarantees a global sea level rise of 12-14 feet

That doesn't even encompass Greenland, glaciers in other mountain ranges and thermal expansion of the oceans.

WAIS will take decades to melt simply because it's so vast, but put it all together and Miami Beach (along with a lot of coastlines here and elsewhere) is dead land walking.

[RobertEarl]

14. Antartica is losing land ice, IDB.

That ice is running off into the sea where it makes the surface waters cold enough to freeze. That's where the hokum idea comes from that Antarctica is growing. But the sea under all that sea ice is warming, like the Arctic, and that ice will melt like all the rest of it.

Ocean temps are headed higher and higher. The simple expansion of the heated oceans is the main cause of sea rise. When the ice really gets melting, watch out Miami!

[NJCher]

15. I know zip about Miami

But my spouse travels there on a regular basis and tells me the place is awash with new building for wealthy immigrants .


Cher

[valerief]

17. Surfside 6 is there.

[NYC_SKP]

16. Folks need to move to higher ground.

Any attempt at sea walls is just going to create opportunities for another Katrina NOLA disaster.

Same goes for other low lying areas near the ocean, and near rivers for that matter.

[rpannier]

18. Unless the sea rises 3 feet over the weekend you're never gonna

convince the climate deniers
Some just don't care and have admitted so

[thelordofhell]

20. The First US City About To Drown?? Try, The Second

New Orleans will drown faster than Miami..........All of it this time

[RobertEarl]

21. Good point

However, NO has something like a sea wall and pumps. Miami has zilch. So NO may still be dry while Miami is under water much of the time. I doubt Miami can build its way out of this mess.