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Originally Posted by bossabreezes
I actually beg to differ about the seawall around Miami. They say that necessity is the mother of all invention, and humans have been able to destroy and create at pretty much endless lengths.
The Netherlands is below sea level, and so is New Orleans. Granted, Miami sits on a different soil/rock type than those locations which makes sea level contention more difficult than other locations, but I still don't think a metropolitan area of around 6MM people (and growing) will simply throw their hands up and say ''well, looks like we're moving to Orlando.''
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As a former resident of Florida, I imagine there are limits to human ingenuity or at least investment.
New Orleans and the Netherlands were developed from the start with the knowledge that they would have to contend with low sea levels.
Miami doesn’t have adequate drainage, sewage, even drinking water infrastructure for many neighborhoods. There are entire neighborhoods, over 100,000 households that rely on septic tanks right now. Malfunctions contaminate the groundwater that provides the drinking water supply; it also pollutes the nearby rivers and ocean. I don’t know how you pull off storm drainage below sea level in a subtropical environment.The city already relies extensively on canals so as not to flood.
If they try to raise the roads or homes piecemeal, then the raised properties will drain and possibly flood into the neighbor’s lot. If the roads aren’t raised in time, then the road beds and utilities will erode.
The entire city has to be raised and quickly. It’s not going to be a mass evacuation overnight, but a general attrition as flooding and infrastructure failures become annual headaches. And it all has to be done within 40-50 years.
I suspect Miami in the future will become literal islands of wealth surrounded by deteriorating infrastructure in much of the lower income parts of the city.