Surfside Collapse Highlights Florida's 'Unique Vulnerabilities'

While climate change may not be directly related to the partial collapse in June of a condo building in Surfside, Florida, "the collapse has shone a spotlight on Florida’s unique vulnerabilities to climate change and raised questions about whether the state’s coastal infrastructure is equipped to handle the flooding that comes with sea-level rise." Zoya Teirstein interviews Randall W. Parkinson, a coastal geologist at Florida International University in Miami, who "thinks it’s already time to start thinking about moving residents away from the sea."

"By 2050," says Parkinson, "buildings in South Florida may be inundated by 2 to 3 feet of sea-level rise, plus 4 or more feet of storm surge." To him, "the collapse was a bellwether moment or a tipping point in the conversation, where for the first time, many more people are thinking more seriously about climate change in the coastal zone." Despite a reluctance on the part of most Floridians to consider managed retreat, Parkinson says the conversation is more essential than ever. "[T]hese current plans, they might hold the line for the next 30 years or so, but it’s just going to be untenable after that. And people are going to have to begin to make plans for how to withdraw and to ensure equity in the transition."

"Preventing future tragedies means acting now," Parkinson says. Otherwise, state and local leaders risk "having to make that decision when you have a major catastrophe." Floridians now face a critical decision: "You do nothing, you adapt (which is a temporary fix because eventually these low-lying coastal areas are all going to be underwater), or, at some point, people are going to have to think about a managed withdrawal from the coastline. Right now, it wouldn’t be managed; it would be total chaos."