Southeastern Florida Coastline and Miami

Storm surge 

Storm surges are weather hazards that can generate dangerous flooding from rough coastal waters created by cyclones, and storms, washing up on the shore (Booth, 2021). They can happen multiple times a year and cause expensive damage if not restrained. For properties on the seafront, they will be more quickly destroyed as they will be heavily exposed to wave action as well as floodwaters, i.e. the force of the waves will damage the property (Genovese, 2011). This is relevant for Miami since many properties, habitats, and hotels are located on the seafront (Genovese, 2011). Properties inland will just be exposed to “resting” water damage (Genovese, 2011). The threat of storm surges happens in the present and will also likely worsen over time as climate change increases. It also depends on the other relevant climate change hazard, stronger hurricanes, which initiate the other environmental threats. 

Flooding

When hurricanes land, they can also create what’s called “compound floods”.  Compound floods are a combination of any two or more types of floods: 1) pluvial and coastal, 2) pluvial and fluvial, and 3) fluvial and coastal (Yangchen Lai, 2021). Compound floods intensify the adverse impacts of single noncompound floods and pose greater threats to society and ecosystems (Yangchen Lai, 2021).

Saltwater Intrusion

When there is more flooding saltwater intrusion can spread farther and contaminate more. It is a process that happens with hurricanes. With higher sea levels and increasing saltwater intrusion, winds, high precipitation rates, storm surge, and ocean salts that accompany hurricanes will have widespread ecological impacts on ecosystems that are unprepared, and low-lying like Miami (NCA4, 2018). 

Hurricanes 

Hurricane season begins on June 1^st and ends on November 30^th (Klotzbach, 2022). The hurricanes bring in ferocious weather conditions and can wreak havoc on their landed area for up to a week while leaving behind their destruction for up to multiple years. When describing them, a hurricane can be thought of as a gigantic heat engine fueled by latent heat released by water vapor condensing in the air (Simpson, 1954). A way to understand how climate change creates more severe hurricanes is by how climate change increases the amount of latent heat available. When there is more latent heat available, hurricanes can form and build up even more.

Because hurricanes travel over the warmest ocean areas, tropical cyclones that parallel low latitudes are more likely to become hurricanes, and stronger hurricanes, than those that recurve northward (Elsner, 2003). Hurricane seasons will tend to be more active when characterized by storms that remain at low latitudes, like in Florida (Elsner, 2003). So, what this means is that in addition to all the other things that disadvantage Florida, its low latitude from being near the equator allows stronger hurricanes to form around it. 

Due to its exposure to the ocean, and location, Miami is very exposed to climate change hazards. Since the main development region for hurricanes is the central tropical Atlantic, Florida is in the vicinity and vulnerable (Elsner, 2003). Strait moving hurricanes are the most intense kind of Atlantic hurricanes (Elsner, 2003). Strait moving hurricanes that hit the United States tend to do so between Texas and South Carolina (Elsner, 2003). Since Florida falls within this region, they are susceptible to being hit by the most intense hurricanes. 

An example of a recent hurricane that made landfall on a part of Florida was Hurricane Irma. In 2017, Hurricane Irma made an unusual landfall in South Florida and the unpredictability of the hurricane’s path challenged the evacuation process seriously (Ghorbanzadeh, 2021). It looked like it would hit Southeast Florida but suddenly shifted its path to the west coast of the peninsula, where the evacuation process had to change immediately with little notice (Ghorbanzadeh, 2021). This example shows just how unpredictable hurricanes can be, and how Florida is in such an unprotected geographic location. 

Since the city of Miami has hardly any elevation, it is prone to flooding in several ways. Throughout Miami’s history, the city was subjected to flooding, mainly caused by heavy rain or storm surge (Wdowinski, 2016). Recently, rain-induced events have become more frequent and tide-induced flooding events have increased (Wdowinski, 2016). Between the multiple processes of flooding and exposure to environmental hazards, Miami is now one of the most economically unstable states in the country. Once seen as a favorable climate, with attractive waterfronts, and affordable housing, increasing storm surges and hurricanes, and rising insurance costs would change everything (Repetto, 2022)  

-Another significant problem that Florida faces when dealing with climate change is how much denial there is in politics. Adaptation efforts can be seen when state legislators supported policies to address Sea Level Rise (Butler, 2021). The 2011 bill undermining key state planning provisions included an amendment that authorized local governments to apply policies and develop projects in “Adaptation Action Areas” at risk of Sea Level Rise impacts (Butler, 2021). 

-Florida’s 2015 Peril of Flood Act requires that coastal localities incorporate sea-level rise (SLR) planning policies into their comprehensive plans (Butler, 2021). 

- Resilience to climate change and natural disasters in Florida can depend on how the economy is doing at the time of the event (Kim & Marcouiller, 2016)