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Emile

(31,419 posts)
Wed Jan 1, 2025, 05:34 AM Jan 1

Is Florida ready for a tsunami?

As if Florida needs another type of natural disaster to worry about.

That said, scientists warned for decades a tsunami could jet our way at more than 500 mph. It's happened before. Few were around in 1755, though, to document the destruction.

But if — some scientists say when — a Florida tsunami happens again, now with millions living so close to the coast, the consequences could be catastrophic. Some tsunami scenarios are way worse than the waves from the earthquake off Lisbon, Portugal that hit Florida 269 years ago.

Twenty years after the catastrophic Boxing Say Tsunami killed some 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean, tsunamis have again been in the news recently in the wake of warnings in the Pacific Northwest, after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake of California.
No tsunami was triggered by that quake, but the extreme, weird waves also have been a hot topic captivating popular culture, lately. A new Netflix series making its own waves centers on the scenario of a volcanic eruption on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands off west Africa.

Why scientists think a tsunami will hit Florida

A mega tsunami more powerful than any recorded could clobber the Space Coast, some models predict. The extreme waves are among the low probability natural events Florida should expect and prepare for, oceanographers and geologists warn. They all agree a Florida tsunami is inevitable but spar over the potential severity and what extreme scenario is most likely to send such a tsunami our way: a distant earthquake, landslide or some other abrupt geological anomaly.

Continued at: https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/environment/2025/01/01/florida-tsunami-ready-netflix-la-palma-lisbon-portugal-earthquake-rogue-waves/77065763007/

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Is Florida ready for a tsunami? (Original Post) Emile Jan 1 OP
It is not... FBaggins Jan 1 #1
Or consistently increasing flooding inundating the entire penninsula as a result of melting polar ice caps and ColinC Jan 1 #2
Not to worry, Nuke the Hurricanes is back in town bucolic_frolic Jan 1 #3

FBaggins

(27,848 posts)
1. It is not...
Wed Jan 1, 2025, 07:40 AM
Jan 1

… but then again - it’s also unprepared for a massive meteor strike or the eruption of the Yellowstone super volcano.

ColinC

(11,080 posts)
2. Or consistently increasing flooding inundating the entire penninsula as a result of melting polar ice caps and
Wed Jan 1, 2025, 12:19 PM
Jan 1

So much of the place being barely (5ft)above sea level in the first place.

I find it ironic (and fitting) that Florida may be the first place to suffer some of the worst effects of climate change, since they are the state largely responsible for the horrible policies leading us here.

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