A ground-breaking study projects that portions of a popular southern Florida city could be under five feet of water in certain scenarios within 45 years.
What’s happening?
Southern Florida is facing flooding risks on multiple fronts as our world warms. The combination of rising tides, heavy rain, and elevated groundwater levels raises the risks of significant flooding for many of the Sunshine State’s coastal communities.
It is an example of something called a compound hazard. This is when multiple natural or human-caused hazards can overlap to magnify the overall impact of an event. Broward County, Florida, has recently concluded a study that addresses the one-two-three punch that compound flooding can inflict on the southern part of the state.
“Sunny day flooding” is showing up more often in coastal areas. The paradoxical-sounding term describes flooding primarily due to sea level rise during high tides without any storms or rain. Sunny day flooding can combine with “king tides,” the highest naturally occurring tides of the year, to exacerbate compound flooding events…