Ft. Lauderdale Plans For Rising Seas: Raise Seawalls At Least 8" (But No More Than 12"!!) [View all]

[hatrack]

Fort Lauderdale has over 200 miles of seawalls. During high tides and storms, seawalls protect properties from coastal flooding. Currently, a city ordinance dictates that seawalls be no higher than five and a half feet. But during King Tides, the really high tides in September, the seawalls are not cutting it. In coastal communities like Las Olas Isles, water is already washing over them and nearly flooding homes. Experts fear this flooding will get worse as sea level is predicted to rise.

So, earlier this month, city officials introduced a new ordinance that would require every seawall in the city to be raised at least eight inches — but no more than 12 inches. This has some sea-level-rise experts scratching their heads, because raising the walls just inches will not protect properties for long: By 2045, sea level is anticipated to rise at least a foot, and as much as two feet by 2060.

“The projections are getting higher and higher. These seawalls will not last their lifetimes,” says Keren Bolter, a geoscientist with Coastal Risk Consulting, a Plantation-based sea-level-rise adaptation firm. “My biggest concern is that cap. The fact that they’re giving a maximum height of six and a half feet is a really big concern. What if someone wants to build higher?”

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It is estimated to cost a property owner anywhere from $10,000 to $125,000 to raise an existing seawall or completely replace a 100-foot seawall. With four miles of public seawalls, it can cost the city as much as $26 million to replace its seawalls. Slap worries about spending all that money on plans that might not last more than 20 years. “If the legal maximum seawall elevation height is too low,” Slap warns, “then the improvements won't last long enough and the costs to renovate yet again may be unaffordable.”

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http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/scientists-wary-of-fort-lauderdale-s-proposed-seawall-plan-7745042