How bad/frequent is street flooding in Miami Beach? (South Beach: how much, living in)

[Bumblebee3]

I recently received a job offer and I'll be moving to Miami within the next month. I'm interested in living in South Beach but I've read articles about street flooding after heavy rains and during high tides. I'm interested in living in the area south of Flamingo park, north of 5th St and west of Meridian. How much of an issue would flooding be in that area? I read that they were going to install more pumps to alleviate the problem. Have they and if so have they made it better?

Thanks

[Cubanchic]

Miami beach has had a lot of flooding issues, more so in the last couple of years then ever in the past, with out a hurricane or major windstorm, but mostly tidal surge.

I don't know about the area you are speaking of but if there is flooding at all anywhere in MB you will experience head aches enough.

[perry335654]

I know I've seen worse videos of flooding than this


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-3LEeBkfNE

[Chelito23]

It floods. Some spots are worse than others. If you are aware of tidal flooding, you can avoid that...people will be able to warn you about specific áreas to avoid wherever you move in Sobe. As in much of Sofla, flooding in intense storms happens and in Miami Beach it is probably worse due to the total development of the city and it's low elevation. In hurricanes I would imagine severe flooding would be a greaer threat. Avoid underground parking in general in Miami Beach.

[StarfishKey]

I have had friends on Miami Beach whose cars floated down the street for summer rains that didn't even make the news. So it's common, and bad. Not sure about which areas are worse, or if it is soon to get better, though. If you move before getting more reliable information about your specific area, be sure to park your car several stories up in a garage during the rainy season, which is generally speaking from June - Nov. You can manage parking it at ground level, but until you know the patterns better, you're more likely to make a costly mistake than locals. At the very least watch the weather predictions so you know when a ton of water is about to be dumped over your street.

If you happen to not be too attached to your car and don't want the hassle (and expense), there are options to live carless. Between a combination of public transportation (not known to be great in Miami but it does exist), biking or scootering, and Zip Car car sharing, you could manage. Miami is a car city, but it is still possible.

[hurricaneMan1992]

The pumps are supposed to be ready for the fall, when the flooding tends to be the worse with the combination of winds, high tides, and the warmest water of the year (thermal expansion). So we'll know pretty soon if they work. Long term, mid-Century and beyond, they're probably not going to keep up with sea level rise, but they might be a good short term fix.

You would think the worse place to be would be the ocean front, but in fact that's where the highest elevations are on the Beach. See the third image on this page--the narrow yellow line is Collins Ave, it's just a foot or two "ridge", but all that rain that falls between Collins and the Bay has to pass through the west side of the Beach before getting out into the bay--and we've paved over most of the land surface, so the porous limestone doesn't help us much. Furthermore, some of our paved surfaces (especially street parking) have dips so they quickly fill up like a bathtub! Safest option for a car is to be in an off-street location at least a foot above street level, or in one of the multi-level City garages.