Condominiums going up in Edgewater, across the bay from Miami Beach. Sea-level rise hasn’t stopped developers from building by the water’s edge, or people from buying there.
Credit: Rose Marie Cromwell /Bloomberg
On a predictably gorgeous South Florida afternoon, Coral Gables Mayor Jim Cason sat in his office overlooking the white-linen restaurants of this affluent seaside community and wondered when climate change would bring it all to an end. He figured it would involve a boat.
When Cason first started worrying about sea-level rise, he asked his staff to count not just how much coastline the city had (47 miles) or value of the property along that coast ($3.5 billion). He also told them to find out how many boats dock inland from the bridges that span the city’s canals (302). What matters, he guessed, will be the first time a mast fails to clear the bottom of one of those bridges because the water level had risen too far.
“These boats are going to be the canary in […]
The people who are buying these things will deserve what they get, won’t they? Just let nature take its course.
Some years ago California was having a problem with young men killing themselves racing powerful motorcycles on winding roads. They stopped insuring them. End of problem. If the insurance companies refuse to insure those shoreline condos that will end that problem.