Southeast Miami-Dade continues to be saturated with the overbearing effects of King Tide season. On Sunday, students, professors and others joined forces to collect flood data on Florida International University’s Sea Level Solutions Day.
Community members ventured out to several flooded areas with “citizen science kits” to record the bacterial contents and depth of flood water in an online database. The information will be used to create solutions based on the frequency and intensity of sea-level rise on urban flooding.
“It’s not a question of if flooding is going to happen, it’s when it’s going to happen,” said Aida Stevenson, a resilience and sustainability data analyst at FIU’s Institute of Environment. “I know we weren’t ready for Hurricane Ian, so I know a lot of things are going to need to change for more flooding events in the future.”
Researchers explained that the King Tides contribute to the overflow of unsafe nutrients, caused by fertilizer ordinance violations and pollution, which invade high-risk flooding areas.
As climate change swamps South Florida, it is vital for residents to take responsibility by picking up litter and depending less on fossil fuels to drive and cool their homes.
