Florida has a climate change challenge. Seas are rising and hurricanes keep on coming. The state, with more than 1,300 miles of coastline, has to figure out how to keep that water out of places it isn’t supposed to be, including our neighborhoods, businesses and living rooms. There is no single solution, no magic bullet. And some of the change is already baked in, no matter the amount of greenhouse gasses pumped into the atmosphere going forward. We will need to embrace new technologies and innovative engineering. In Florida, that will take many forms, but one thing for sure, it will mean building stronger sea walls. And lots of them.
Sea walls protect homes in communities all over Florida and Tampa Bay. Without them, storms and waves would pull many coastal neighborhoods into the sea. The concrete and metal walls guard multi-million dollar mansions on Davis Islands and Tierra Verde and more modest abodes in Crystal River and Apollo Beach. They have been around for decades, silent sentries helping families live out the Florida dream of living next to the water.
Sea walls aren’t ideal. They come with their own complications, from increasing erosion to damaging sea beds. And they cannot be our only protection against rising seas. But they are proven effective at keeping water at bay — and they aren’t going anywhere. They protect too many homes and businesses that too many people rely on, including the taxes generated from those properties. Sure, the state will have to make hard decisions about retreating from a few highly vulnerable coastal areas. About 40 percent of St. Petersburg, for example, is vulnerable to storm surge from a mere Category 1 hurricane. But in the short term don’t expect a massive migration away from the water. As seas rise and hurricanes threaten, the question isn’t how to get rid of sea walls, but how to build better ones. The good news is that efforts are already under way.
