Florida’s Coastal Vulnerability

A U.S. Senator designated the place as ground zero, in terms of its growing vulnerability to the combined hazards of storm surge and sea level rise. Scientists and experts continue to offer research findings and data confirming the high risk this region faces.

I am speaking of Southeast Florida or what many people from others states or countries simply call Miami.

I believe the photo below, taken from the International Space Station, clearly illustrates the insular nature of the area. A rather large urban environment at the water’s edge, surrounded and crisscrossed by water.

Nocturnal view of Southeast Florida from the International Space Station. The picture is looking northward. The bright island of light just left and above the center is  the Miami urban region. Beyond it the lighta od urban centers in Central Florida and on the Gulf Coast are also visible. Toward the lower left corner we see the lights of uerban centers in Cuba.

Nocturnal view of Southeast Florida from the International Space Station. The picture is looking northward. The bright island of light just left and above the center is the Miami urban region. Beyond it the lights of urban centers in Central Florida and on the Gulf Coast are also visible. Toward the lower left corner we see the lights of urban centers in Cuba. The greenish colored waters surround the Bahamas.

This is our beautiful paradise, warm, friendly, multicultural, international, a magnet for many worldwide, and oh so vulnerable to hurricanes, coastal flooding, storm surge, wave impacts and the continuously persistent, inexorable and exacerbating factor of sea level rise.

 How long can we go on enjoying this paradise by just talking  about sustainability, adaptation and resilience, but without taking action to protect it?

Think regional protection!

 

 

This entry was posted in Adaptation, Climate Change, Featured, Hazards, Hurricanes, Regional Protection, Resilience, Science, Sea Level Rise, Storm Surge, Sustainability and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

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