On Friday, September 5, 2014, a group of students from the SJMC covered the installation of the first of three brand-new water pumps that the City of Miami Beach wants to have installed before October 1 to be prepared for an upcoming King Tide, which is predicted to occur on October, 9.
A King tide is a particularly high tide that occurs during the full moon in the summer and winter months when the earth is nearest to the sun and the earth, moon and sun are aligned.
The new state-of-the-art pumps have higher capacity than the previous ones and are expected to last around 10 years, said Brian Landis, project manager for Bergeron Land Development Inc., the company commissioned by the city for the installation.
Brian Landis, project manager for Bergeron Land Development Inc., shows a student one of the the brand new 3000-pounds pumps.
The first pump was installed at the very end of 14 Street, passing West Ave. The neighbors were excited about the idea of having a relief from the salt water that gets inside their parking garages and floods the streets, but after several months of construction work, some of them have begun to find the construction site in front of their houses and businesses cumbersome, said Brian.
The City of Miami Beach already faces severe problems with sea level rise. Flooding occurs on a regular basis during high tides and in cases of storm surge or heavy rains. The elevation of the reef island is very low, especially on the side facing Biscayne Bay where all the mangroves were removed and the swampland was filled in to expand the city and to build new infrastructure.
Digging only a few feet is enough to meet salt water.
The pump was lifted and put into place by attaching it to a backhoe bucket.
