FL Officials Moved Heaven & Earth On $350M Tidal Flooding System For Last Pre-Election King Tide

[hatrack]

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But this is an election year, when even nature becomes a foil for competing political narratives. When a highly anticipated king tide hit the Florida coast last week, state and local officials surged into action to ensure that any flooding was kept out of sight.

Crews went to work at daybreak Thursday to fire up brand-new pumps installed to prevent seawater from inundating expensive bayfront real estate. By late morning, the TV reporters who arrived in wading boots to film flooded streets instead saw only puddles. By Oct. 10, when the state’s two gubernatorial candidates met for a televised debate, the streets were completely dry, and the Republican incumbent was able to deflect a question about the impact of climate change on the state. “We put $350 million into flood mitigation,” Gov. Rick Scott told viewers of the debate with Democratic rival Charlie Crist.

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Many Florida towns now experience flooding on sunny days, especially during king tides, when a gravitational alignment of the moon and sun produce the highest tides of the year. But recurring photos of kayaks drifting past luxury condos have rankled the state’s developers and tourism officials and spurred a clamor for government money to buy pumps and upgrade drainage systems.

The flooding also poses a special challenge for conservative politicians who are skeptical of the scientific consensus on human-induced climate change. Some Republicans, like Scott, have gradually arrived at a somewhat schizophrenic position, refusing officially to take a position on global warming even as they ramp up efforts to deal with its immediate effects. The contradictions were on full display in a week in which Scott dodged a debate question about climate change while also helping to expedite a new flood-control system for Miami Beach. The upgrades were completed just before this year’s king tide and, in a further twist, just ahead of the arrival of environmental groups and elected officials who planned to use the event to call attention to rising sea levels.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/florida-politicians-battle-rhetoric-as-rising-seas-drive-worries-over-climate-change/2014/10/17/e16fa3ce-548e-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773_story.html?hpid=z3

[djean111]

1. They are gonna need bigger pumps.

No doubt the developers will chip in. Or the taxpayers. One of those groups.

[hatrack]

2. OF those two groups, my money's on the latter . . .

Call me crazy . . .