- October 11, 2024
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects that Florida could see anywhere from 1.75 feet to 6.08 feet of sea level rise by 2100.
In 2021, the Legislature passed a law recognizing that the state is vulnerable to impacts caused by flooding, storm surge and sea level rise. Coastal cities, like Ormond Beach, are on the front lines of trying to understand, plan for and pay for projects to address these climate change issues, Jason Evans, executive director for the Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience at Stetson University, said during a community outreach workshop on Wednesday, June 28.
“I think last year you got a good taste of it with Ian and then of course with Nichole,” Evans said. “And so it’s hurricanes, and erosion and flooding, and what do you do? What does it mean to be resilient? You got real-time lessons there.”
The Resilient Ormond Beach Vulnerability Assessment workshop was held in partnership with the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, and was made possible due to the city’s receipt of a Resilient Florida grant. This grant was created by the state in 2021 to facilitate a comprehensive statewide flood vulnerability and sea level rise data set and assessment, and Ormond Beach’s is underway.
Once the assessment is completed, governments have access to implementation funding, said Brenda Defoe-Surprenant, director of planning for the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council.
Every county in the state and several local governments within them, she said, received funding for vulnerability assessments, but the dollars vary based on the county’s size and scope.
“Once you do a vulnerability assessment, you get opened up to another pot of money that allows local governments to actually do mitigation,” Defoe-Suprenant said. “This can range from things like green infrastructure to more hard infrastructure like stormwater systems.”
Ormond Beach is starting to work on local resiliency projects. It has prepared FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program applications for two city projects from Hurricane Ian — a flood protection project for Strickland Creek and the acquisition of two generators for Fire Station 92 and 93, City Senior Planner Becky Weedo said in an email to the Observer.
The city is also looking to apply for grants under FEMA’s Flood Mitigation Assistance Program for seven projects: the elevation of six flood-prone homes and the acquisition and demolition of one flood-prone home.
“These grant applications will be due to the state in November 2023,” Weedo said. “Because the FMA program is highly competitive nationwide, in order to maximize the chances of getting funded, the city is focusing on flood mitigating structures located within floodplains with a history of recurring flooding and that are classified as repetitive loss properties or severe repetitive loss properties by FEMA.”
As sea levels continue to rise — they have risen about 11 inches over the past 100 years, according to data from Stetson’s Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience — infrastructure will see the greatest impact, Defoe-Suprenant said.
In 2018, the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council presented alternate sea level projections for Brevard and Volusia County. These ranged from 5.15 feet of sea level rise by 2100 to 8.48 feet by 2100.
Both the RPC and NOAA projections will be used to complete the vulnerability assessment for Ormond Beach, which Defoe-Suprenant said she aims to have completed by the end of 2023.
Evans said he recommends local governments plan for one meter of sea level rise, or about 3.2 feet by 2100, with a focus on its stormwater systems.
“With one meter by 2100, there are reasonable adaptation options,” he said. “It will be challenging, but at least it’s reasonable.”
