Florida Matters
Last Sunday, our pastor told us that God always surprises us with a better plan. For example, her dream was lying at the beach in Florida, not preaching at this suburban church in Virginia. Her personal story made us wonder, so we briefly searched this dreamy state online.
Before 1819, Florida was still under various authorities. Since then, the United States purchased Florida from Spain and made it part of the statehood in 1821. Because of its geographic location and abundance of sunny weather, Florida is known as the “Sunshine State.”
Lately, its geographic elevation and sea level have made it suffer from extreme weather, even the most among other states along the sunbelt. In the last decade, the speed of the rising Florida sea level has increased. The surrounding sea surface is raised by as much as one inch every three years. Scientists now forecast that in just the next 15 years, the sea level will have increased by another 6 inches.
In 2022, Ian, a large destructive category-four Atlantic hurricane, struck Florida hard, which made many people lose their properties and homes. The hurricane brought more than a foot of rainfall, making the increasing sea level a more imminent issue.
While we enjoy the at-season fresh fruits from Florida, we cannot stop thinking about a sustainable design principle:
“… protect floodplain function by limiting new development within the 100-year floodplain of all types of waterways and watercourses.” — SITES 1.2-Protect Flood Plain Function
How can we determine which area is within the 100-year floodplain? You might ask. We use FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map. These areas are generally depicted as zone A, AE, A1-A30, AH, AD, AR, A99, V, and VE.
Floodplains function to store and derive water from extreme weather events. Many risks can be avoided by building within the regulated distance from the floodplain. This principle reduces the risk impact on the properties and leads to more recreational opportunities.
On this momentous day, we framed this card on the wall. May the SITES reference be our go-to guide when we help on projects next time.
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By the way, according to recent NOAA’s ENSO advisory, El Niño conditions are current (at June 2023) and are expected to continue developing into winter 2023–24. When El Niño is stronger, the sea surface temperature is warmer than average. That will result in wetter in the southern tier of the United States (including Florida) and drier conditions over parts of the Pacific Northwest, Northern US, and Canada.
