From: Steve Davies (steve365@btinternet.com)
Date: Wed Apr 09 2003 - 02:12:00 MDT
Steve Davies writes
What the record shows
> > is that climate change is good news for some, bad for others. So the
> > Medieval Climate Optimum was pretty good if you were a Viking but
disastrous
> > for Dutchmen as it led to the huge flood in the 12th century that
drowned
> > two thirds of the low countries and created the Zuyder Zee (much of
which is
> > still there).
Lee asks
> How quickly did the inundation occur? I'm wondering if it would
> be quite easy for the Dutch today to prevent something similar.
It happened overnight (in 1153 if my memory is correct) as the result of a
huge storm that smashed though the existing coastline. The Dutch today
obviously have more tricks up their sleeve but you need to realise rising
sealevel isn't the acute problem. It's rather the threat of much more
frequent extreme weather events (100 year storms) which can cause massive
floods, especially if combined with something like a high tide, backing up
of the Rhine and Maas. Sure they can defend against such a risk but at very
high capital cost.
>
> > Not a lot anyone can do to prevent this though. Florida real
> > estate doesn't look like a good bet to me if you look back
> > just 80 years to the weather it experienced in the 1920s
> > when it had a series of huge hurricanes. Not so many condos
> > and hotels back then.
>
> Well, why not ;-) Just get the government to declare it a
> disaster area, and the owners don't really run any risk.
>
> Putting aside hurricanes for a moment, and assuming that all
> of Florida gets privately owned, then could the rise in sea
> level be so slow as to permit owners to build walls to hold
> back the sea?
>
Of course, but as I said the problem isn't rising sea levels, at least not
in Florida (it would be in the Maldives) but the increased probability of
major hurricanes. So I think there will be a political move to give special
protection to Florida property owners. With Florida being such an important
state politically it might just happen:)
>
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