Homeowner Assistance Group

Much of Florida has an elevation of less than 12 feet (3.7 m) including many populated areas Therefore it is susceptible to rising sea levels associated with global warming the Atlantic beaches that are vital to the state's economy are being washed out to sea due to rising sea levels caused by climate change the Miami beach area close to the continental shelf is running out of accessible offshore sand reserves Elevated temperatures can damage coral reefs causing coral bleaching the first recorded bleaching incident on the Florida Reef was in 1973 Incidents of bleaching have become more frequent in recent decades in correlation with a rise in sea surface temperatures White band disease has also adversely affected corals on the Florida Reef, 1.1 Beginnings Jupiter 55,156 39,328 Palm Beach 1.4 Reconstruction era and end of the 19th century, Fluctuating sea levels compressed numerous layers of calcium carbonate sand and shells the resulting permeable limestone formations that developed between 25 million and 70 million years ago created the Floridan Aquifer which serves as the main source of fresh water for the northern portion of Florida However this aquifer lies beneath thousands of feet of impermeable sedimentary rock from Lake Okeechobee to the southern tip of the peninsula. Brownsville On November 13 1997 voters changed the name of the county from Dade to Miami-Dade to acknowledge the international name recognition of Miami Voters were acting pursuant to home rule powers granted to Dade County including the ability to change the name of the county without the consent of the Florida Legislature the change in name also addressed a source of public dissatisfaction with the name "Dade" which was chosen to honor Francis L Dade who had been killed in the Dade Massacre in the 1830s the massacre did not occur in South Florida but in the west central part of the state in present-day Sumter County near Bushnell There is also a Dade City which is closer to the site of the massacre.

; She tried to persuade railroad magnate Henry Flagler to expand his rail line the Florida East Coast Railway southward to the area but he initially declined in December 1894 Florida was struck by a freeze that destroyed virtually the entire citrus crop in the northern half of the state a few months later on the night of February 7 1895 the northern part of Florida was hit by another freeze that wiped out the remaining crops and the new trees Unlike most of the rest of the state the Miami area was unaffected Tuttle wrote to Flagler again asking him to visit the area and to see it for himself Flagler sent James E Ingraham to investigate and he returned with a favorable report and a box of orange blossoms to show that the area had escaped the frost Flagler followed up with his own visit and concluded at the end of his first day that the area was ripe for expansion He made the decision to extend his railroad to Miami and build a resort hotel; Miami is home to one of the largest ports in the United States the PortMiami It is the largest cruise ship port in the world and is often called the "Cruise Capital of the World" and the "Cargo Gateway of the Americas" it has retained its status as the number one cruise/passenger port in the world for well over a decade accommodating the largest cruise ships and the major cruise lines in 2017 the port served 5,340,559 cruise passengers Additionally the port is one of the nation's busiest cargo ports importing 9,162,340 tons of cargo in 2017 Among North American ports it ranks second to New Orleans' Port of South Louisiana in terms of cargo tonnage imported from Latin America the port sits on 518 acres (2 km2) and has seven passenger terminals China is the port's number one import country and number one export country Miami has the world's largest amount of cruise line headquarters home to Carnival Cruise Line Celebrity Cruises Norwegian Cruise Line Oceania Cruises and Royal Caribbean International in 2014 the Port of Miami Tunnel was opened connecting the MacArthur Causeway to PortMiami. The American Airlines Arena home of the Miami Heat, (19.4) U.S Historic district The FIU School of Architecture is the most competitive in Florida with the lowest admission rate in the state at 14% (2011) for Fall 2009 the School of Architecture received over 1,000 applications for the first-year Master of Architecture program with 60 being accepted giving the School of Architecture a 6% admissions rate the average high school GPA for the freshman class in the School of Architecture was 3.98 also making it one of the most selective schools at FIU.