6 Time July 19/July 26, 2021
E
ver since The deadly collapse of a condo
tower in Surfside, Fla., residents of Miami’s
water front have found themselves looking up
more often. Cracks in garage ceilings, corroded
rebar in concrete columns and signs of saltwater seepage
after bad weather—not uncommon features of older sea-
side buildings in this part of the state—are being viewed
with new and wary eyes. They’ve been documented on
social media, distributed on group chats and shared in
unnerved emails to building managers and inspectors.
The June 24 collapse of the 13-story Champlain Tow-
ers South building, just north of Miami Beach, has not
only left 46 people confirmed dead and more than 94
still missing as of July 7. It has also shaken Miami resi-
dents who had grown used to natural disasters and regu-
lar warnings that they are in the crosshairs of climate
change. But this feels different, they say, and experts
warn that fresh sense of panic could shake years of break-
neck growth in Miami real estate and threaten a regional
economy that depends on a robust real estate sector. Al-
ready, two other condo buildings on Miami Beach have
been evacuated after closer inspections revealed safety
concerns, leaving hundreds of residents displaced over
a holiday weekend. And on July 4, what remained of the
Surfside building was demolished in a controlled explo-
sion as a tropical storm approached South Florida.
“I think this just makes the coast a lot less valuable,”
says Jesse Keenan, an associate professor at Tulane Uni-
versity who has led research on climate change and finan-
cial risk. “That value plays out in the market, it plays out
in public finance, and it plays out in people’s perception
of what it means to move to Florida.”
For people living on Florida’s coast, waking up with an
ocean view has long come with calculated risk. From June
to November, homes can be battered by hurricane-force
winds that drive occupants to evacuate inland. It’s not un-
usual for people to wade through knee-deep water to get
to their cars after heavy rain, or watch U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers trucks dump tens of thousands of tons of fresh
sand to replenish the beaches that serve as a buffer from
the rising water. The city of Miami (pop. 470,000) is home
to 26% of all U.S. homes at risk from rising seas, accord-
ing to real estate site Zillow. Studies by the Risky Business
Project, a nonpartisan climate-change research initiative,
suggest $15 billion to $23 billion of property in Florida
could be under water by 2050.
But that was supposed to happen gradually, and
real estate agents have continued to flog the sunny Florida
dream. The pandemic drove the local market to record
TheBrief Opener
NATION
Condo collapse raises
fears of climate risk
By Vera Bergengruen/Surfside, Fla.
and Justin Worland/Washington
Top left: An officer stands guard as people
take photos of Miami–Dade County Mayor
Daniella Levine Cava and Miami Heat
player Udonis Haslem on June 30 at a
memorial wall for victims of the Champlain
Towers South collapseBottom left: Flowers attached to barriers
on the beach near the site of the building
collapse on June 30