Miami Beach leading SoFla fight to prevent flooding

Miami Beach flooding
Miami Beach flooding

Miami Beach is leading the charge to stave off rising sea levels, the Miami Herald wrote in an editorial last week.

Major streets and low-lying areas in Miami Beach are flooded for days after average rainstorms. Studies showed that a three-foot rise in sea level would leave western Miami Beach permanently inundated. A recent seminar in the city presented a $200 million overhaul of the outmoded drainage system as a solution.

Miami Beach is the city in South Florida to donate funds to this cause. The new drainage system would include wells to store runoff water, more pumps to remove floodwater and “backflow” preventers to reduce the shore water entering street gates.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

The editorial said government officials for cities along the coast will have to reevaluate zoning laws near beaches.

“When an aging Miami Beach hotel is razed, it should not be the site for another high-rise condo, for example, which simply puts more people at risk,” the Herald editorial said. “It could become green space instead.” [Miami Herald]Mark Maurer