Surfside is a coastal community in Miami-Dade County, located on a barrier island along the southeast coast of the Florida peninsula, that spans approximately one square mile. The town currently has a population of 6,000 and has been experiencing record-breaking growth and redevelopment, becoming home to many restaurant, shopping, and luxury beach front hotel destinations.
About 1,200 people in Surfside live on exposed land, in an area with a 73% risk of at least one flood over 3 feet taking place within the next 30 years. In order to adapt to the changes that sea level rise will bring to this heavily populated, ecologically important area, the Miami-Dade Office of Sustainability worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office for Coastal Management to host a workshop at which county department representatives learned how sea level rise could affect the county and generated ideas for how to adapt to these changes.
Spearheading these efforts is Mayor Daniel Dietch, who is a member of the Resilient Greater Miami & the Beaches’ Living with Water – Innovative Infrastructure Work Group, a group seeking to identify opportunities for natural and human-made infrastructure that supports the ability to live with water and to create a more resilient community in the face of storms and sea level rise.
