It鈥檚 a scary thought: Sea levels rising by as much as 2 feet, swallowing up land, homes and everything else not on high ground.
It could happen as soon as 2060, experts say.
Fort Lauderdale, with its overabundance of both inland and along the coast, is already looking at one drastic, 鈥渓ast-resort鈥� option to help keep streets high and dry: Raising roads.
, bigger pipes and better pumping stations won鈥檛 be enough to armor the city, Fort Lauderdale officials warn.
READ MORE: Reports on Fort Lauderdale flood show heroism, weaknesses as city ramps up infrastructure projects
Fort Lauderdale is seeking input from experts with the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit organization made up of land-use experts who also have offered guidance to other cities vulnerable to flooding, including New Orleans, Boston, New York City, Chicago and El Paso.
A panel of ULI experts recently toured Fort Lauderdale鈥檚 most , then held two public meetings with the community to hear from residents and share what might lie ahead.
During the first meeting, Fort Lauderdale resident Judy Mudge told panelists she鈥檚 about to grow gills and fins.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really impacted by the king tides,鈥� she said of her Las Olas Isles neighborhood. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really frustrating. The road becomes a river. The seawall does not stop the water. We really need your help.鈥�
'Living in a bathtub'
Resident John Roth chimed in.
鈥淲e are living in the bottom of a bathtub,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople are running out to buy high-clearance vehicles or a boat. I have both. We鈥檙e still building road diets around here (where lanes are removed to slow down traffic). That鈥檚 the wrong way to go, guys. You have to (give) people (a way) to escape.鈥�
Fort Lauderdale is , upgrading drainage and installing tidal valves in an attempt to reduce coastal flooding, Assistant Public Works Director Nancy Gassman said. But for where upgrades have not solved the problem, roadway elevation has been proposed as the next potential solution.
ULI鈥檚 advisory panel plans to send Fort Lauderdale a full report in a few months with a list of recommendations on how to choose which roads to raise and suggestions on how high to raise them. The panelists will also suggest ways to find funding.
A controversial road-raising project is already underway in Miami Beach, where some residents are complaining of roads so high that lawns flood while streets stay dry.
If a road is raised by 2 feet, nearby homes can flood unless they are elevated along with the road. And that can cost a pretty penny.
Raising a home above base elevation can cost anywhere from $30,000 to more than $100,000, according to FL Home Builder.
鈥淩oad elevation is the last resort,鈥� Commissioner Steve Glassman told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Friday. 鈥淢iami Beach had issues, but we have to learn from that. How do we mitigate those issues? I think we can learn from those who have already done this. And you do a better job when you learn from mistakes that have been made.鈥�
If Fort Lauderdale officials move forward with a plan to elevate roads, they are likely going to get pushback from homeowners, said Kitty McGowan, a local activist who has served on Fort Lauderdale鈥檚 Marine Advisory Board.
鈥淚f you put a mountain next to something that鈥檚 lower, the water is going to run down,鈥� McGowan said.
To avoid a deluge, residents would have to pay an 鈥渋nsane鈥� amount to have their homes elevated to the same level as the road, McGowan said.
McGowan lives in Fort Lauderdale鈥檚 Edgewood neighborhood, where nearly 300 homes were damaged in a record-breaking rainstorm that hit last year on April 12 鈥� including McGowan鈥檚. Many homeowners did not have flood insurance.
鈥淚 lost everything,鈥� McGowan said. 鈥淚t took nine months to get back in my house. Dozens of people in my neighborhood are still displaced. We were ground zero for that flood.鈥�
Retreating from the coast?
Another option considered by some coastal cities is what is known as managed retreat, where property owners voluntarily leave flood-prone areas.
Municipalities typically rely on planning, zoning and environmental impact assessments to subtly manage retreat, according to a report authored by Gabriella Mickel published last year in the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law Policy.
鈥淔or example, Punta Gorda limits new development in flood-prone areas and prohibits hard shoreline armoring,鈥� Mickel wrote. 鈥淧unta Gorda has also utilized another managed retreat tactic 鈥� buyouts. Punta Gorda buys out properties to help people move away from the coastline. It then uses the land to build living shorelines that buffer floods and facilitate the inland migration of coastal habitats.鈥�
Fort Lauderdale officials have made no mention of buying out private property owners 鈥� not yet, anyway.
鈥淗ow do you tell people it鈥檚 not really worth trying to save your street or your home?鈥� Glassman said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 scary. It鈥檚 a scary thought. But it might be the reality of the future. But that鈥檚 part of a much larger discussion.鈥�
Last year, Fort Lauderdale commissioners gave unanimous approval to requirements, increasing the minimum top elevation from 3.9 feet to 5 feet.
Seawalls are not cheap.
A homeowner with a 100-foot-long seawall might end up paying anywhere from $125,000 to $200,000.
The new rule, mandated by Broward County to address sea-level rise and tidal flooding, will apply to homeowners who fall into one of three categories:
- Those who are building a new seawall.
- Those with seawalls in significant disrepair, with damage to more than 50% of the structure.
- Those with seawalls so low that tidal flooding breaches the seawall and sends water into neighboring yards and nearby roadways.
In March 2020, Broward County adopted new seawall standards for more than a dozen cities susceptible to high-tide flooding and gave them two years to adopt the new rules.
Several cities have already done so, including Hollywood, Dania Beach, Hallandale Beach, Davie, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Wilton Manors, Oakland Park and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.
Fort Lauderdale homeowners cited by the city will have one year to build or replace their seawall. If they miss the 365-day deadline, they can be fined $100 a day.
This story was produced in partnership with the Florida Climate Reporting Network, a multi-newsroom initiative founded by the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, The Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel, 港澳天下彩Public Media and the Tampa Bay Times.
