The threat Miami faces from rising sea-level is well-known. Yet this calamity is only half the city’s problem
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskThe threat Miami faces from rising sea-level is well-known. The seas off South Florida have risen by almost a foot in a century, more than the global average. Parts of Miami are close to sea-level, so prone to flooding at high tide. As the ice sheets melt, another couple of feet of sea-level rise is expected by 2060; perhaps six by 2100. Yet this calamity is only half the city’s problem.
Miami has no answer to this inundation from without and within. A seawall, analogous to the Netherlands’ dykes, could make groundwater flooding worse, by stopping it draining away. The best course is a medley of partial fixes. These would include heavy investment in practical solutions, such as extending the sewer system; long-term planning for higher sea-levels, including a rethinking of building codes and the habitability of parts of Miami; and aggressive steps to mitigate global emissions.
Starting with the obvious, the Republicans, who have run Florida since 1999, are an impediment to cutting emissions. The previous governor, Rick Scott, was a climate-change denier. The current one, Ron DeSantis, is better on local environmental problems, yet while recently releasing a sea-level plan he dismissed “things like global warming” as a “pretext to do a bunch of left-wing things”.
He might have had Miami’s response to its watery future in mind. Drive around it with an informed guide and illustrations of administrative chaos and make-and-mend are everywhere. A state-run causeway across Biscayne Bay is being raised in expectation of 0.7 feet of sea-level rise; a county one in expectation of six feet. A mile-long roadway parallel to the bay marks the route of a $4.6bn seawall proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers.
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