Overview
On the Atlantic coast, just north of Miami, Broward County is considered among the most vulnerable regions to climate risks in the United States. On April 12, 2023, a 1-in-1,000 year rainfall event occurred, with Fort Lauderdale most impacted by 4 days of flooding.
The impact includes personal losses in health and well-being, decline in economic activity, potential property value losses, and rising insurance rates (increased over 400% in some cases). Without insurance, mortgage qualification is hampered, creating downward pressure on the tax base.
Broward County responded under the leadership of its Chief Resilience Officer (CRO), engaging a Steering Committee of county officials, finance specialists, engineers, community leaders and business CEOs. Hazen and Sawyer conducted a countywide risk assessment and McKinsey calculated economic value of solutions, projecting a real rate of return of “at least 9%”.
Interventions include seawalls, road conversions, pumping stations, culvert upgrades, storage areas, green infrastructure, and control elevation adjustments.
Timeline & Location
April 2023: 1-in-1,000 year rainfall in Fort Lauderdale. 2023: Launch at COP28 as 101st Resilient Cities Network member. 2024: Countywide Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan. 2025: Priority Zone 1 mapping. Location: South East coastal Florida, USA.
Stakeholders
Led by Chief Resilience Officer (CRO). Steering Committee including county officials, finance specialists, engineers, community leaders, and Chamber of Commerce CEOs. Hazen and Sawyer (engineering). McKinsey (economic analysis). Notably, no significant role for Florida state or US federal government — the County acted with autonomy.
Digitalisation & Data
Modelling of spatial, temporal and economic aspects plus adaptation scenarios. Online dashboards showing adaptations. GIS, tabular and map data available to download. Priority Zone 1 mapping using modelled flood elevations, LANDSAT8 satellite temperature data (NASA), Community Social Vulnerability Index (CDC), and FEMA Community Resilience Disaster Zones.
Hazards
Exogenous Hazards
Flooding, extreme heat, and social vulnerability. Hurricanes and sea level rise.
Endogenous Hazards
Asset and interdependency risks. To Do
Cost & Benefit
Cost: Portfolio approach for financing. Capital and operational costs estimated for two adaptation strategies. Discussions on potential new local taxes.
Benefit: Economic activity benefits, property damage savings, increased real estate values and taxes, increased flood insurance coverage. Calculated real rate of return of “at least 9%”. Harder-to-estimate community benefits (improved well-being) not included in calculations.
Key enablers: Deep insurance and municipal bond markets. Municipal bond market beginning to price climate risks. Insurance market frames how the “externality” of climate change has been “internalised” via solutions that avoid losses and generate positive returns.
Resilience Principles Assessment
Assessment of meeting Principles of Resilient Infrastructure
Clearly Defined Accountabilities and Shared Responsibilities (P1)
Leadership demonstrated by coming forward with hazard identification. For investors, “Governance” includes decision-making processes, disclosure, transparency and accountability.
Proactively Protected (P2)
Interventions including seawalls, road conversions, pumping stations, culvert upgrades, storage areas, and green infrastructure.
Environmentally Integrated (P3) To Do
Details pending.
Socially Engaged (P4)
Municipality engagement through CRO leadership and Steering Committee involving community leaders and business CEOs.
Adaptively Transforming (P5)
Adaptation Plans with multiple tiers. Different combinations assessed for performance and longer-term adaptation.
Continually Learning and Improving (P6) To Do
Are they learning from other resilient cities?
Futures
Investment decisions and choice of level of resilience still under development. Portfolio approach to financing being refined. Municipal bond markets beginning to price climate risks.