At a Glance

King tides worsened by climate change are causing more nuisance flooding in parts of Florida. Some residents are seeing flooding even without rain. Officials in Hollywood, Florida, are making efforts to come up with ways to alleviate flooding. Florida’s coastal floodplain area is also expected to expand by 2050.

Worsening nuisance flooding from king tides is creating a wave of concern among residents and officials in Florida, where climate change is expected to cause sea levels to rise dramatically by mid-century.

More than 100 people gathered in Hollywood, Florida, for a walk organized by the Sea Level Rise Solutions Project of South Florida to , the Sun-Sentinel reports.

“It’s a sunny day and we’re seeing the ocean higher than the land,” Broward College professor Keren Bolter told the Sun-Sentinel. “This is a glimpse of the future. The seas are rising and so are we.”

Tides are the long-period of the moon and sun during orbit, according to the National Ocean Service. The term “king tide” is used to describe exceptionally high tides. They typically occur during new or full moons.

On the day of the walk, there were roughly seven inches of water covering Adams Street at the Intracoastal Waterway in South Lake, the Sun-Sentinel reports. Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy was in attendance and spoke of the city’s efforts to alleviate flooding, such as clearing out storm drains, installing floodgates and commissioning a study for future engineering solutions, which could includewalls or artificial embankments built along roadways that are prone to taking on water.

“ because of extremely high tides,” Levy told the Hollywood Gazette. “We’re seeing salt water in the streets and will have to build more berms, sea walls and drainage areas.”

According to Levy, there are four flood-prone areas that put roughly 80 homes at risk.

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University of Rhode Island assistant professor of Coastal Planning, Policy and Design Austin Becker told the Gazette that, in some cases, people will be forced to move out of low-lying coastal areas and communities will have to move further inland. Some roadways and buildings will also have to be elevated.

Some residents in Florida have begun to anticipate flooding, even without any rain in the forecast.Fort Lauderdale salon owner Francesca Guerrera told the Sun-Sentinel in a previous report that . She had two sump pumps installed in her salon’s courtyard to keep her business from flooding.

Since opening nine years ago, she says the flooding has become even worse.

“Deeper and deeper. More and more often,” said Guerrero.

“I’m just scared that the sea levels will rise and Florida will be gone,” 13-year-old student Rebecca Adler told the Sun-Sentinel. “It could happen if we ignore the fact of climate change. It’s only going to get worse.”

On a list of 25 cities most vulnerable to climate change by 2050, , with the exception of New York City, which holds the number one spot.

Today and by 2050, an additional 1.1 million are forecasted to be threatened by sea level rise, according to Climate Central.

Florida’s coastal floodplain area is also expected to expand by mid-century. Currently, the state has more than 3,600 miles of land in floodplain areas and by 2050 that amount is expected to surge to 5,300 square miles due to sea level rise, Climate Central reports.“If we don’t do something, then future generations may not be able to come back to the places where we are being raised,” 14-year-old Meagan Jacobowitz told the Sun-Sentinel.