The study identifies critical assets and how sea level rise, storm surge and rainfall could impact the city by the year 2100 if nothing is done. <\/p>\n
GULFPORT, Fla. \u2014 The city of Gulfport released findings of its vulnerability study aimed at strengthening the city’s resilience to future storms. The study identifies potential challenges the community could face over the next 70 years and outlines ways to prepare for them.<\/p>\n
The vulnerability study identifies critical assets.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike our lift station just about a quarter mile up the road. We have our emergency services, police station, fire station, our public works facility,\u201d Kendrix Anderson, Gulfport\u2019s Assistant Public Works Director, said.<\/p>\n
It then shows how sea level rise, storm surge and rainfall could impact the city by the year 2100 if nothing is done.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barbara Banno has worked and lived in Gulfport for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don’t start taking action now, it’s scary,\u201d Banno said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said hurricanes Helene and Milton made it clear the city can’t afford to stand still.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy home did get about four feet of water,\u201d Banno said.<\/p>\n
Right now, she\u2019s elevating her home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe property that I lived on, it had a lot of value in it. It was a place that I lived in for many years, and I didn’t want to lose that,\u201d Banno said.<\/p>\n
The study said elevating is needed to address challenges with flooding or isolating stormwater pumps from areas known to flood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have a lift station that is prone to flooding, you can install stormwater pumps. In regard to lifting the roads, obviously you’re going to have to consider runoff so there are definitely options available,\u201d Anderson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s the last gem in Florida, and we need to do everything we can to keep hold of that,\u201d Banno said.<\/p>\n
City officials said completing the vulnerability study makes Gulfport eligible for additional funding to carry out an adaptation and implementation plan. The city plans to apply for that funding in July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The study identifies critical assets and how sea level rise, storm surge and rainfall could impact the city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-109799","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}