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Consultants present South Miami vulnerability assessment funded by $150,000 Resilient Florida grant
Summary
Kimley‑Horn consultants delivered a final citywide vulnerability assessment funded by a $150,000 Resilient Florida grant, identifying canal-adjacent focus areas, 16 flood scenarios and short- and long-term adaptation strategies to guide future grant-funded projects.
The City of South Miami received a final presentation Tuesday on a citywide vulnerability assessment the consultant said is intended to underpin future resilience projects and grant applications. Alejandro Terral of Kimley‑Horn told the commission the assessment was funded through the Resilient Florida Grant Program and that the city received $150,000 for the 13-task study, which the consultant said had completed 12 tasks prior to the public presentation.
"The purpose of today's presentation is mostly to give you an idea of the efforts and the results of the citywide vulnerability assessment," Terral said, describing data sources used in the analysis, including NOAA, FEMA and FIU. He said the consultants modeled 16 flood scenarios — rainfall, storm surge, sea level rise and compound events — and produced maps showing exposure of roughly 30 critical city assets.
The presentation highlighted a low-lying swath that follows the city's canal system (Bridal Canal, Twin Lakes Canal and Ludlam Glades Canal) and identified multiple focus areas where critical assets cluster near the canals. Terral recommended short-term measures such as deployable flood barriers, backflow preventers and more frequent stormwater maintenance; longer-term options included gray and green infrastructure, business-case evaluation and, as a last resort, asset abandonment or elevating infrastructure.
Commissioners asked how the assessment overlaps the city's septic‑to‑sewer conversion master plan for Basin K and whether the canal lock structures are vulnerable. Terral said there is likely overlap and offered to provide the commission with electronic floodplain data and the underlying maps to assist capital‑project planning. Mayor and commissioners emphasized using the assessment to prioritize projects in the city's capital improvement plan and to position future grant applications.
The consultant said the vulnerability assessment had been submitted and approved in August and that an adaptation plan — a separate, more detailed document — would follow and provide specific interventions aligned to the city's capacity and permitting realities.
