How can Miami Beach survive sea level rise? (South Beach: living, estimates)

[hurricaneMan1992]

Originally Posted by unquiltom

The comparison to Venice would not work here. Venice is on a body of water with land on 3 sides. basically, they don't have waves. With Miami Beach directly on the Atlantic, you wouldn't have nice, calm waterways to navigate around unless there was a way to block the wave action.

Good point!

Although assuming the beach itself and the dunes survive, that would serve as somewhat of a barrier. Thinking of the intracoastal waterway in mid-Beach, where the waterway is literally a block from the beach, but no matter how much surf there is, the waterway is flat. If we lose the dunes...game over!

[soonaproudmiamian]

I have watched a documentary about Galveston,TX..They..raised the whole city to avoid flooding...Also,I see that the sea in Miami Beach is very shallow..A barrier ( ..I don't know the exact word..) would work & prevent flooding...

[doggiebus]

They did the same thing with Seattle. You can still take a tour of the old city that sits below the Seattle we know today.

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by soonaproudmiamian

I have watched a documentary about Galveston,TX..They..raised the whole city to avoid flooding...Also,I see that the sea in Miami Beach is very shallow..A barrier ( ..I don't know the exact word..) would work & prevent flooding...

wait...They raised the whole city? How did they do that?

Originally Posted by doggiebus

They did the same thing with Seattle. You can still take a tour of the old city that sits below the Seattle we know today.

Do you know the name of the documentary?

[Dakster]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

wait...They raised the whole city? How did they do that?



Do you know the name of the documentary?

1. A lot of money. You can do just about anything with the right amount of money.

2. Sorry... I don't.

[soonaproudmiamian]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

wait...They raised the whole city? How did they do that?



Do you know the name of the documentary?

Well,maybe "the whole city "is an exaggeration..But definitely they raised the flooded part of the city..."

[doggiebus]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

Do you know the name of the documentary?

It's not a documentary, it's an actual tour. I took it while we were out there, pretty cool.
https://www.undergroundtour.com

Miami Beach just needs to invest more money in fixing this water issue.

[r_k]

The Seattle "underground" is interesting, but has nothing to do with sea level rise.

[hurricaneMan1992]

Plenty of older cities have "layers" of parts of them underground, it's not so much "raising" the city as re-building at a higher elevation. There is a lot of big $$$ invested in Miami Beach, I doubt it would be so easily surrendered to the sea. Nationally people love South Beach at least as much as New Orleans' French Quarter.

The additional challenge with using levees and raised sea walls in Miami Beach is going to be porous limestone underneath which can allow water to seep in from below. The western suburbs also face the same issue with water seeping in from below from the raised Everglades water table. However, it's entirely possible that in the next 87 years we've figured out how to fill in the porous rock (perhaps some variation of fracing?)) and/or manage the water flow with efficient pumps.

I can imagine the big money going in to trying to prevent climate change is going to eventually have to go more in to adapting to climate change Whoever figures out how to keep water from seeping up through limestone is going to be a very rich man or woman!

[Chelito23]

I'm not sure about long term. In the short term we can already see the effects of sea level rise. The constant flooding of lower Alton Rd-it doesn't even drain or evaporate anymore-and it's regardless of tides, winds and rain....and to this I think the city is building pumps. I am sure that the city will eventually move to massive pumps...then the next generation will tackle a seawall or some sort. Miami Beach isn't a lone, a lot of South Florida will go through something similar as well NYC and many other low lying coastal áreas.

100 years out...with climate change and rising sea levels...who knows. The city might be devasted someday by a major hurricane and if there was enough damage, some áreas might never be rebuilt. Maybe abandonment and conversión to reef resotration waaaay down the line. Who know, interesting to hypothesize about.