Task Force: S. Florida Coastal Real Estate Confronting Uninsurability In Absence Of Quick Action
(Reuters) - South Florida's coastal real estate may become uninsurable as the sea level rises unless Miami's county government takes urgent action, a task force said on Tuesday. "We believe that without a professionally well thought out adaptation plan in place, we risk losing insurability and financial support for our future," the Miami-Dade Sea Level Rise Task Force concluded in a report.
Sea level rise is "a measurable, trackable and relentless reality," task force Chairman Harvey Ruvin, a longtime environmentalist and the Miami-Dade county Clerk of the Courts, wrote in the report's introductory letter. "It's happening, and we are ground zero," he added in an interview, noting the vulnerability to climate change of low-lying southeast Florida, with a population of 5.7 million.
Climate change is already impacting Florida coastal communities, which could see a 2-foot rise in sea level by 2060, the United States Geological Survey has warned. Florida had recorded 5-8 inches of sea level rise in the last 50 years, a panel of officials and scientists testified at a Senate hearing on Miami Beach in April.
The task force, which submitted its report on Tuesday, was created by the county commission in July 2013 to assess the potential impacts of sea level rise for future development planning.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/01/us-usa-florida-sealevel-miami-idUSKBN0F65IN20140701
