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{"source_url": "https://www.jacksonville.com", "url": "https://www.jacksonville.com/opinion/20200101/word-for-2020-resilience?rssfeed=true", "title": "Word for 2020: Resilience", "top_image": "https://www.jacksonville.com/Global/images/head/nameplate/fb/jacksonville_OG.jpg", "meta_img": "https://www.jacksonville.com/Global/images/head/nameplate/fb/jacksonville_OG.jpg", "images": ["https://www.jacksonville.com/Global/images/head/nameplate/jacksonville_logo.png", "https://b.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&c2=9289482&cv=2.0&cj=1", "https://www.jacksonville.com/Global/images/head/nameplate/fb/jacksonville_OG.jpg"], "movies": [], "text": "Thursday\u2019s Editorial: Resilience is the key word for Jacksonville\u2019s extensive waterfront.\n\nJacksonville is one of the most vulnerable cities in the nation to the dangers of sea level rise and storm surge.\n\nAfter all, we have so much waterfront at stake.\n\nIf Jacksonville were to build seawalls everywhere, it would cost billions. That won\u2019t be practical. But all of the options need to be addressed.\n\nSo kudos to City Council President Scott Wilson for establishing a special committee on resilience and for Councilman Matt Carlucci for proposing it.\n\nCarlucci lives in San Marco, which is used to flooding. But it has become worse in recent years.\n\nThe committee needs to look at past, present and future challenges.\n\nFor the past, we need to understand the baseline? Is flooding getting more frequent and more extensive? In many cases, it is.\n\nFor the present, what can be done immediately that can have an impact?\n\nFor the future, what should be done about development along the waterways? When is it more economical to spend money on infrastructure like protecting sewage treatment plants in flood zones? Or when it is more economical to retreat?\n\nDowntown developments along the St. Johns River need to be protected from the impact of rising seas and storm surge.\n\nThe storm surge from Hurricane Irma literally shut down buildings for months.\n\nWarmer seas have meant that hurricanes have become more intense and have dumped record amounts of rainfall as well.\n\nThe Northeast Florida Regional Council has been quietly studying these issues for years, taking a businesslike, risk-management approach that fits the culture here.\n\nCity planners have also been studying the issue, for instance evaluating whether current flood area maps have become outdated,\n\nThese are issues that will remain for generations. It\u2019s about time that City Hall began addressing them.\n\nBusinesses see risks\n\nIt was only a time before the financial industry began to seriously take note of the dangers of flooding in a warmer world.\n\nAccording to a story from Bloomberg News, \"During the preparations for Jacksonville\u2019s sale of $197 million in bonds in August, a disclosure counsel asked if the city had long-term plans to implement projects that increased resilience against storm-related risks.\n\n\"Questions like that are new, said Randall Barnes, the city\u2019s treasurer.\"\n\nAccording to the Reuters News Sservice, \"Investors, analysts, research firms and companies are putting more emphasis on how climate issues ranging from rising sea levels to record heat waves will affect profits and revenues in the United States and what companies are doing to address those risks.\"\n\nIn 2019 alone, there have been 10 weather and climate disaster events that caused more than $1 billion in damages.\n\nWildfires and hail, once considered secondary risks, have accounted for $13 billion of $15 billion in natural disaster claims through August.\n\nAnd 30-year mortgages may become unattainable due to climate risks, reported the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.\n\nFinancial markets hate uncertainty, and the huge losses taken recently are likely to make funders cautious.\n\nIn California, for instance, 50,000 homeowners can\u2019t obtain property or casualty insurance because of risks to their homes.\n\nBanks are shifting risky mortgages along the coasts to the federal government, meaning taxpayers support people building on floodplains, reported The New York Times.\n\nLosses from flooding could be worse than the subprime crisis because many of these home values won\u2019t come back.\n\n\"It is less likely that borrowers will continue to make mortgage payments if their homes literally are under water,\" said the chief economist at the federal agency Freddie Mac.\n\nBut this is not just a coastal issue. Extreme climate events like heat waves, heavy rain, drought and wildfires can happen anywhere.\n\nFlorida, however, is especially vulnerable to the impacts, which is why our elected leaders need to be aggressively preparing now.\n\nA dollar spent on resilience will go a long way to prevent many more dollars on restoration.\n\nJust look at what Hurricane Michael did to the Panhandle of Florida.\n\nIt came strong and fast, and the devastation is still apparent.", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": [""], "tags": [], "authors": ["The Florida Times-Union Editorial Board"], "publish_date": "Wed Jan  1 00:00:00 2020", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "https://www.jacksonville.com/Global/images/favicons/jacksonville_favicon.ico", "meta_data": {"viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0", "og": {"site_name": "The Florida Times-Union", "title": "Word for 2020: Resilience", "description": "Thursday\u2019s Editorial: Resilience is the key word for Jacksonville\u2019s extensive waterfront.", "image": {"identifier": "https://www.jacksonville.com/Global/images/head/nameplate/fb/jacksonville_OG.jpg", "width": 200, "height": 200}, "type": "article"}, "msvalidate.01": "7E15F9269E2CE66F2A488ABB04B5015E", "fb": {"pages": 6244094789}, "apple-itunes-app": "app-id=1339992191?at=1000lkC&ct=sb-jacksonville", "google-play-app": "app-id=com.ghm.floridatimesunion", "bt": {"pubDate": "20200101T08:21:22Z", "modDate": "20200101T08:21:00Z", "author": "The Florida Times-Union Editorial Board"}, "twitter": {"title": "Word for 2020: Resilience", "description": "Thursday\u2019s Editorial: Resilience is the key word for Jacksonville\u2019s extensive waterfront.", "card": "summary", "image": "https://www.jacksonville.com/Global/images/head/nameplate/fb/jacksonville_OG.jpg", "site": "@jaxdotcom"}, "author": "The Florida Times-Union Editorial Board", "vf": {"unique_id": "siteLK-pub5037-712FB883-1A9E-4AAF-B1C1-F26D424CAC91"}, "article": {"opinion": "true"}}, "canonical_link": "https://www.jacksonville.com/opinion/20200101/word-for-2020-resilience"}