Hurricane Nicole, King Tides & Sea Level Rise Flood Real Estate in South Florida

Here’s a quick vid of the neighborhood and street flooding I saw today in Delray Beach, Florida . Hurricane Nicole, king tides — when the alignment of the sun and moon create extra strong pull on the ocean — and sea level rise conspired to create quite a mess in many locations along the Intracoastal Waterway.

Even without Nicole, these neighborhoods have flooded in the past. I strongly recommend that anyone buying real estate in coastal communities check flood maps to see if they’re at risk. If your house, townhouse or condo doesn’t flood, but your street does you’re still screwed. Driving through salt water is murder on a vehicle, and eventually sea level rise will hit your property.

Buyers and sellers also need to pay attention to what their city or town is doing to address sea level rise flooding. Some of the locations that flooded during Nicole have received infrastructure upgrades — higher sea walls, better drainage, pump stations — that were supposed to prevent flooding but didn’t. This is a costly mistake for homeowners and taxpayers.