We need to get serious about sea-level rise
While it's true that Venice is known for its canals and being a water city, a storm in Europe earlier this week caused a major storm surge.
The water from the Mediterranean Sea caused five foot storm surges and 77% of Venice is flooded. Tourists have been asked to leave; the raised sidewalks are under water.
It makes me think of us here in Coconut Grove, a water city. On Monday night here in the Grove there was a meeting at the Woman's Club to discuss sea-level rise in our community.
A few political candidates were present and while they all agreed that sea-level rise is a problem, none of them came up with solutions, but has anyone come up with solutions other than reducing our carbon footprint?
Here in the Grove, and all around Miami, people live right at the water's edge, close enough so that when you look outside, it's as if you are on a cruise ship, you don't see land. I often think about what life would be like, sort of like Venice, Italy, if we had no roads and had to get around by boats and other means. I imagine getting to other areas of the bay via boats or water taxis.
I came up with a comic strip idea about this - the whole world is covered with water and buildings are above the water or below the water and people get around on watercraft, hot air balloons, I have one guy surfing to work in one strip.
I thought this was a funny idea to pursue and I drew up dozens of sample comic strips. I had gotten the idea from Hurricane Harvey in Houston, after seeing the city covered with water and after seeing the bay in my own backyard as a floating city, but then after hurricane Irma and Hurricane Michael, which recently hit part of the Florida panhandle, I realize this is not comic strip material. It's something to take seriously.
posted by Tom Falco at 4:00 AM
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7 Comments:
We are past the point of no return and only solution left are sea walls like the Netherlands.
We can't do sea walls like in the Netherlands or New Orleans because the ground in Miami is porous. What happens is the water comes from underneath with the water table rises.
Those living next to the coastlines of the world will simply have to move inland. Humans know how to adapt.
The City of Miami should learn to be nicer to live aboard boaters.
Stiltsville was an idea way ahead of its time. Might be time for a revival.
JRL
In the Netherlands a network of pumps, channels and dykes are used, sea walls are just one element of the engineering. Miami is too corrupt and backward to manage a project with that much complexity.
Guess most of us don't react until the actual shit hits the fan..
It has already hit the fan. I viewed tourist in Venice, literally sitting in water waist high, on chairs, at eateries, with waiters plowing through carrying food. Just East of the Card Sound Road Bridge the roadway was raised twice in 10 years, by a total of three feet to avoid high tide flooding.
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