THE SILVER LINING TO CLIMATE ADAPTATION -- Part 2

The High Cost of Resiliency Efforts and the Hope that 

Lies in Wise Government Planning and Spending

Wind and water damage from hurricanes was long the domain of the Carolinas down through the entirety of Florida and up the Gulf Coast. But Super Storm Sandy and a host of other once-in-a-hundred-years storms — happening far more frequently than once per century — are proving that New York, 

New England and inland places not even on the sea are becoming more vulnerable every year. 

But make no mistake.

Miami is ground zero.

Every time a glacier wall shudders in Greenland, a Miami homeowner winces. 

The area, which was hard hit by the recession of a decade ago, saw tens of thousands with “homes under water.” 

This means the person owed more to the bank than their house was worth. 

Today, when a person within the Miami Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) has a home underwater, it may be literally. 

Just a slightly higher tide than normal may cause significant flooding to the property — no need for hurricane-force storm surge or 10 inches of tropical rain to threaten the viability of homes, businesses and more.

Since the Miami MSA is more than 5 million strong, and growing rapidly, retreat is not exactly an option. 

Not to mention, for those who haven’t been to the Sunshine State, points west of the Miami MSA (which includes Broward and Palm Beach counties to the north) are the fragile Everglades. Points east are the very Atlantic Ocean that is rising. 

And unlike the Netherlands, greater Miami cannot build a giant series of dikes, dunes and other flood controls. 

Its porous limestone means the rising sea pushes up through the bedrock — even dozens of miles inland. And waterfront land is so coveted, that barely an inch of it — on barrier islands and coastal mainland — exists as open space to retain water within.