Opa-locka and Hialeah, Florida: Grappling with Decades of Storm Impacts (2015)

Both cities have majority minority populations. Opa-locka’s population of 15,967 is 66 percent African American and 35 percent Hispanic, while Hialeah’s population of 233,394 is approximately 95 percent Hispanic and 3 percent African American. A 2010 report referred to Opa-locka as a “thriving food desert,” an environment “that supports substandard nutritional outposts.” Hialeah’s high unemployment rate, coupled with the fact that most adults lack health insurance, contributes to the ongoing economic struggle of its residents. These issues complicate and increase the need for resiliency efforts.

Current climatic changes add a greater sense of urgency to the on-going efforts to address poverty. A 2012 report from the Opa-locka Community Development Corporation identified key strategies for strengthening the city’s economy such as more workforce development initiatives and the designation and preservation of historic buildings and homes. These recommendations both allow for economic development and, if implemented thoughtfully, could make the city significantly more resilient through green jobs and projects, and storm-ready infrastructure upgrades.

The critical need for resilience in Miami-Dade’s low-income communities was most evident during Hurricane Wilma in 2005, which amplified the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina just weeks before. Katrina hit south Florida as a category 1 storm before making landfall in the Gulf Coast as a category 3 storm. Hurricane Wilma reached south Florida as a category 3 storm with winds of 125 miles per hour and a storm surge of seven feet.

Local resident Christie Diaz was a teenager living with her parents in Hialeah when Hurricane Wilma hit her neighborhood. She remembers her apartment building being without power for two weeks, and government food trucks made deliveries to the community. Her parents were unable to get to work for several weeks, and she was out of school for nearly a month; but, she noted, it was the elderly living in multi-family buildings who had the hardest time receiving assistance.

Diaz noted how streets now regularly flood during routine rainstorms, and this flooding lasts longer than it did 10 or 15 years ago. She says: “Everybody should know about how sea level rise is affecting our community, because it is affecting us now and will be even worse in the future. If we don’t know, we can’t take action.”

Gilberto Turcios is a long-time resident of Opa-locka and was there during the relentless 2005 hurricane season. He recalls trees falling on homes, including his aunt’s, and roots pulling up sewer pipes. He remembers long lines of residents waiting for water, food, and supplies from FEMA, the Red Cross, foreign embassies, and other organizations, but he feels that the local churches were most involved in giving aid to Opa-locka’s residents. He says that although the information residents received about the coming storms was helpful, there was not enough transportation available to residents who wanted to evacuate.

Turcios felt that government agencies failed low-income communities after the storm. Agency personnel promised to repair damaged roofs, but supplied temporary blue tarps and provided no follow-up services.

In Turcios’ view, “the government didn’t do the right thing in poor communities; they just did a quick fix and forgot about it.” He felt that because of climate change, preparing the community and having a plan for recovery is more important now than ever: “Over the last 20 years I’ve noticed flooding happening more often . . . I’m concerned because the more water tends to be around a home the more the water can crack the walls and weaken the base of the house. It’s an economic loss, it hurts property values. . . . Raising a house is very expensive, and only three or so homes have been elevated in my neighborhood.”

As local governments and federal agencies move forward with projects to revitalize Opa-locka’s and Hialeah’s economies, resilience should be a key driver behind these efforts in order to allow for progress even in the face climate change.