Sea Levels Rising And Florida Has No Plan - Palm Beach Post

[hatrack]

And now for some more bad news about global warming. The sea level is rising. That's particularly bad news in South Florida, which is surrounded by sea and flat. If the sea rises too much, we sink. Sure, they're talking hundreds of years. Well, at least 100. Then again, after last week's news that Greenland's glaciers are melting twice as quickly as believed, maybe it's half that. Fifty years is long enough to get some pretty good wear out of that new roof you're planning to put on the house. Just hope you don't end up living on it.

EDIT


Some things are beyond saving or just not worth it, the report says. On that list is Palm Beach County's Peanut Island, a boaters' paradise where taxpayers have invested millions to create a wholesome park experience. But it's an island in the Intracoastal Waterway that wouldn't really be the same wholesome experience behind a 4-foot wall.

There's not much in the report about how to save the barrier islands and all that lies west of them. The weakest link in a network of levies and walls, as we learned in New Orleans, can sink a city. And how high do the walls have to be? The ocean is not some placid lake, either. Hurricanes, which seem to be getting fiercer, have a knack for stirring it up. Combine rising seas with a Category 5 blow and it's hard to see even the most ambitious man-made barrier keeping the water out.

In 1990, a Palm Beach Post story headlined "S. Florida's future lies in level of the seas" outlined the threat of salt-water intrusion into drinking water sources and urged policy-makers to factor sea level rise into decisions on zoning, water supplies and public safety. Last fall's regional planning council report makes the same recommendation. Now, however, 16 years have gone by. Dan Cary, then the regional planning council's director and today a consultant, told The Post: "It's very difficult, with our political system, to deal with things that are going to happen 30 to 50 years from now." It still is. The regional council's report was approved in September with little fanfare.


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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/02/28/w18a_engelhardt_col_0228.html

[MadMaddie]

1. 30-50 years....

Katrina has proven that the the swamping of these low lands can happen in 24-48 hours.

They are not prepared now!!

[ellenfl]

2. i guess i better sell my condo pretty soon. my

barrier island will definitely be under water. maybe i will sell it to a repug who does not believe in global warming. :evilgrin:

ellen fl

[Delphinus]

11. You know,

I must have somewhat of a mean streak in me because I think there's a certain poetic justice about you doing just that!

[Warpy]

3. My mother used to say she loved seeing big, high rise condos

being built everywhere because they'd make Florida sink a little bit faster.

After spending much of the last two months there, I'd tend to agree with her.

The problem is that the population will flee northward.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Not that that would help much.

Any idea what a 10' rise in sea level would do to Manhattan?

[SongOfTheRayne]

4. Hmmm......

No winter, rising oceans, harsher winters in India, more storms, severe weather....

WE TOLD YOU SO!!!!!

[spag68]

5. sea levels

I guess I should send this article to my daughter in St. Pete On the other hand they have a boat so whats to worry about

[phantom power]

6. There's always the Tinkerbell Doctrine

Clap harder! Clap harder!

[tanyev]

9. I believe! Mmmm...more Kool-Aid, please.

[NNadir]

8. It would be more surprising if Florida did have a plan.

The Bush family is not big on planning.

If they want to do something, they declare it a "cakewalk."

If something happens that makes them look bad, they say that "no one could have anticipated it," promise some money, forget their promise and go on to another cakewalk.

[Dead_Parrot]

10. Of course Jeb has a plan:

Stage 1: Steal as much as possible
Stage 2: Run away