Jacksonville unveils 50-year strategy for resiliency to flooding, extreme heat, wildfires

The City of Jacksonville, Fla., recently released plans for Resilient Jacksonville, a 50-year resiliency strategy to reduce the risks from flooding, hurricanes, excessive heat, and wildfires, and to respond better to those events.

The plan includes ways to stop the St. Johns River from flooding vulnerable neighborhoods, including those prone to flooding during heavy rain or hurricanes. One measure, a green stormwater infrastructure program, would help with flooding and also reduce water pollution by constructing rain gardens, swales, and tree trenches to store stormwater runoff before it can get to sewers.

The city also plans to relocate certain city-owned resources “where alternative adaptation options are infeasible.” These properties and infrastructure assets would be moved to areas outside of a flood plain.

The plans to address excessive heat by investing in the more than 400 parks around Jacksonville and expand an alert system for high-heat days. The city would also improve cooling facilities, possibly add more of them, and keep them open longer.

FEMA recently unveiled the initial designation of 483 census tracts that will be eligible for increased federal support to boost resilience to natural hazards and extreme weather. The action was the result of bipartisan legislation, the Community Disaster Resilience Zones Act of 2022. The law aims to help localities most at risk from the impacts of climate change to build resilience to natural hazards.

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'Underground climate change' can damage building foundations, civil infrastructure

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