Climate Change: Miami, Florida

Paul Rich, GLY1030

climate change: Miami, FLorida

Rising sea levels

Climate CHange

References

The biggest impact that climate change has had on Miami is increased hurricane frequency and rising sea levels (Donald 27). These effects have made the city more susceptible to flooding, causing massive amounts of damage. Another effect of climate change is the rise in high-tide floods (HTF) (De Leo et al., 1). HTF occurs when high tides rise to abnormally high levels, and flood nearby areas. HTF has drastically increased in frequency over the years; and will likely keep increasing in the future due to rising sea levels.

There have been plans in place to (at least temporarily) remedy Miami’s flooding problems. Former Miami mayor Philip Levine had started a plan to raise Miami’s roads and pump floodwater off the streets to help the situation (Donald, 28). The issue with this plan is that flooding will occur in the future as sea levels continue to rise. Unfortunately, the conversations around Miami’s flooding are oriented on temporary fixes rather than address the cause of the flooding, which is climate change.

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Where else in the world is experiencing a similar form of climate change? Coastal cities like Amsterdam and New York City also have experience increased flooding due to rising sea levels

What effects does it have globally? Rising sea levels can drastically change city layouts, as coastal areas become unlivable due to flooding.

How does this affect the region around it? The flooding of these major cities can cause significant damage to homes located in these densely populated, coastal areas. Eventually, these homes and buildings will become unlivable, forcing people to move inland.

De Leo, F., Talke, S. A., Orton, P. M., & Wahl, T. (2022). The effect of harbor developments on future high-tide flooding in Miami, Florida. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127, e2022JC018496. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JC018496 Donald, R. (2022). Climate Knowledge and Community Ritual: Miami Weathercasters as Climate Change Communicators. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 46(1), 17-38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0196859920977150