The big-wheeled trucks rolled over the Anna Maria Island Bridge.
Two flatbeds hauling housing lumber and materials crossed the bridge and rolled into Holmes Beach.
And just minutes earlier I’d turned up the radio to listen to another report on sea level rise, news about climate change slowing the Gulf Stream, causing more rise in Florida.
The clockwise current brings warm air — and water — from the tropics up the U.S. East Coast, across the Atlantic to northeastern Europe. There, near Greenland, the water cools and turns south, back toward the tropics.
But the circulation system is ailing, at its weakest in 1,600 years, with about 15% of its strength lost since the 1950s, according to new research.
And the consensus among scientists is climate change will further weaken the Gulf Stream, causing colder winters for Northern Europe and more heat and higher sea level rise for Florida.
When you hear a such a report and live here on the coast, surrounded by water, you wonder: How high?
You ask: When?
You think: Where?
As The Islander went to press, the city of Anna Maria and the Center of Anna Maria Island were set to host a forum on sea level rise featuring John Englander, author of “High Tide on Main Street.”
The forum was to be at the center, 407 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10, and address the science of sea level rise and potential, practical solutions.
We know we must reduce our carbon footprint by moving toward zero waste, driving less, conserving water, switching to sustainable energy and eating plant-based diets.
We also know as a society that we should slow the pace of development on the coasts.
Yet the pace is on the rise, with the locations at most risk of sea level rise developing faster than safe zones, according to a report produced by Climate Central, a nonprofit science and news organization, in concert with Zillow, an online real estate database.
Since 2009, in Florida and eight other states, the housing growth rate in coastal flood-risk zones outpaced the growth rates in safer areas.
“Surging Seas,” another report from Climate Central, also examines vulnerability to sea level rise and coastal flooding at the national, state and local level using projections and historic data.
The executive summary contains these facts: 2,120 square miles of land lie less than 3 feet above the high tide line in Florida. Some $145 billion in property value and 300,000 homes sit on that land. About 2,555 miles of road, 35 public schools, a power plant and 978 known hazardous waste or materials sites lie on land less than 3 feet above the high tide line.
Also found in the summary is this assessment: Every inch of sea level rise will be more damaging than the previous inch.
To get a local outlook, Climate Central provides maps and assessments online at riskfinder.org.
Type “Holmes Beach” into the search bar and learn that the projection for sea level rise is another 4 feet by 2100, which means an 18% risk of at least one flood exceeding 5 feet by 2030, a 46% risk by midcentury and a 100% risk by 2100.
Type “Bradenton Beach” into the search bar and learn that the 100-year flood height is 4.9 feet above the high tide line, and the highest observed flood there was at 4 feet in 1985.
Type “Anna Maria” into a search bar and learn that the city has experienced about 7 inches of sea level rise based on records for the past 67 years.
I’m more than eager to learn about practical solutions.
How about you?
This column was published in The Islander newspaper.
Archives for The Islander are online here.