Officials in the Florida Keys stop debating sea level rise, start adjusting infrastructure – ‘The rate’s doubled. It would be disingenuous and sloppy and irresponsible not to respond to it.’

KEY WEST, Florida, 2 July 2013 (Associated Press) – Hurricane storm surge can inundate the narrow, low-lying Florida Keys, but that is far from the only water worry for officials. A tidal gauge operating since before the Civil War has documented a sea level rise of 9 inches in the last century, and officials expect that to double over the next 50 years. So when building a new Stock Island fire station, county authorities went ahead added a foot and a half over federal flood planning directives that the ground floor be built up 9 feet. Seasonal tidal flooding that was once a rare inconvenience is now so predictable that some businesses at the end of Key West’s famed Duval Street stock sandbags just inside their front doors, ready anytime. “It’s really easy to see during our spring high tides that the sea level is coming up — for whatever reason — and we have to accommodate for that,” said Johnnie Yongue, the on-site technician at the fire station for Monroe County’s project management department. While New York City’s mayor was announcing a dramatic multibillion-dollar plan for flood walls and levees to hold back rising water levels there, sea walls like those that encase the Netherlands wouldn’t help much in the Keys, as a lack of coastal barriers isn’t the island chain’s only problem. “Our base is old coral reef, so it’s full of holes,” says Alison Higgins, the sustainability coordinator for the city of Key West. “You’ve got both the erosion and the fact that (water) just comes up naturally through the holes.” The Keys’ plans for adapting to rising sea levels sound a lot like the way they prepare for hurricanes: track the incoming disturbance, adjust infrastructure accordingly and communicate potential risks to residents — all, hopefully, without scaring off the tourists who treasure the islands for their fishing, Technicolor sunsets, eccentric characters and a come-as-you-are social scene that has attracted the likes of Ernest Hemingway, U.S. presidents and flamboyant female impersonators. In many sea level projections for the coming century, the Keys, Miami and much of southern Florida partially sink beneath potential waves. However, officials are quick to note that the Keys’ beloved resorts and marinas and airport — with a runway averaging just over 2 feet above sea level — aren’t disappearing underwater overnight. The Keys and three South Florida counties agreed in 2010 to collaborate on a regional plan to adapt to climate change. The first action plan developed under that agreement was published in October and calls for revamped planning policies, more public transportation options, stopping seawater from flowing into freshwater supplies and managing the region’s unique ecosystems so that they can adapt, too. Before writing the plan, the counties reviewed regional sea level data and projected a rise of 9 to 24 inches in the next 50 years. “The rate’s doubled. It would be disingenuous and sloppy and irresponsible not to respond to it,” Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi, who oversees the Keys. [more]

Officials in the Florida Keys stop debating sea level rise, start adjusting infrastructure