File:Barrier island hubris 6-29-2021.jpg

2021

Rising Seas, Rising Risks to Coastlines Globally

From Florida to Mumbai, Get Ready to Deal with Threats to Infrastructure

The region abuts seas that are around eight inches higher than they were a century ago and this pace will quicken – with another 17in of sea level expected by 2040. Depending on the melting of the vast ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, south Florida could be assailed by a foot of extra sea level per decade in the second half of this century, according to Harold Wanless, a geographer at the University of Miami.

“It’s going to be an enormous to impossible job everywhere to deal with that,” Wanless said. “The sea level rise is accelerating and will do so more dramatically than most people anticipate.

“Every sandy barrier island, every low-lying coast, from Miami to Mumbai, will become inundated and difficult to maintain functional infrastructure. You can put valves in sewers and put in sea walls but the problem is the water will keep coming up through the limestone. You’re not going to stop this.”

• https://www.theinvadingsea.com/2021/02/25/we-need-the-courage-to-truly-tackle-global

• https://www.huffpost.com/entry/miami-tower-collapse-environment-climate-change_n_60d631d2e4b06c8105d5d5be

• https://earthsky.org/earth/harold-wanless-on-sea-level-rise-in-south-florida/

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Condominium Building Collapses near Miami

Beachfront Property, Multiple Deaths, Over One Hundred People Missing

• https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2021/06/24/miami-condo-collapse-drone-aftermath/7778804002/

• https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/weather/2021/06/25/could-climate-change-have-contributed-surfside-condo-collapse/7779816002/

• https://news.yahoo.com/sea-level-rise-due-to-climate-change-eyed-as-contributing-factor-in-miami-building-collapse-172145539.html

Tower collapse: Florida Governor DeSantis says search and rescue ongoing; Cause of collapse will need answers soon

Could the increasing assault of king tides and sea level rise have contributed to Miami condo collapse?

“Sea level rise does cause potential corrosion and if that was happening, it’s possible it could not handle the weight of the building,” said Zhong-Ren Peng, professor and Director of University of Florida’s International Center for Adaptation Planning and Design. “I think this could be a wakeup call for coastal developments.”

Sea level rise, the gurgle of more frequent king tide flooding, and changes in soil consistency or location are elements dealt with by any building on a barrier island... it can be invisible machinations — the push and pull of tides on limestone bedrock — combined with rising seas that can weaken a building’s integrity.

South Florida's coastal waters could jump 10 to 17 inches by 2040 and 21 to 54 inches by 2070 above the 2000 mean sea level in Key West. The long-term sea-level rise is predicted to be 40 to 136 inches by 2120.

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Sea-Level_Rise

Surfside, Florida, Disaster

• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Surfside_condominium_collapse_photo_from_Miami-Dade_Fire_Rescue_4.jpg