I think that's where we're heading. The only question is when.

As Newsweek pointed out a couple of years ago, Florida became the vacation and retirement fantasyland it is during a period of unusually low hurricane activity, and because of the availability of cheap air-conditioning.

Like Jared Diamond pointed out, we tend to assume that the future will be like the past. Tain't necessarily so.

Dig down a couple of feet in my yard and voila! There is a well! Across the street there is a large river. Burrowing here is not an option imo. My house is surrounded by large trees, mostly live oaks, which shade the house, vehicles and lawn. If I was dumb enough to cut down the trees (to install solar collectors on the roof) my water useage would go up if I wanted to continue to have a St Augistine Grass lawn and my AC costs would go up considerably in a house without shade. Most homes in Florida, except those that are new on lots scraped bare by developers, are shaded.
If Florida floods one third of the world population is going to become refugees. This GW problem is not just limited to Florida...are you reading, Oilmanbob? Alan?

A burrow that has flooded is going to be just as useless as an aboveground house shredded to smithereens by a tornado. You'll have to rebuild it from scratch, as it will be soaked through and through with polluted water like all those unsalvageable houses in lower NOLA. Only, since it's a burrow, you'll have the added expense of pumping it out and tearing it apart first. Never mind that in most parts of the country, keeping even shallow basements reliably dry seems to be an unsolved problem.

You're right, the real problem is living in Florida, or anyplace else within easy reach of storm surges, in the first place. An issue, though, is that we live in the age of the Safety Nazi, appointed to rule over us because we all know that Baby Boomers would live forever if only all perfidiousness could be suppressed. This means that older folks are often told to become hermits whenever there is the tiniest threat of the tiniest bit of ice or snow. ("I must advise you this way, if I don't, I could be hauled before the medical board for failing to use best practice, or you could sue me for malpractice.") So, not wanting to spend whatever time they have left in prison, they naturally move to where it never snows. And there's almost noplace in North America with temperate weather year-round, so they must pick their poison. C'est la vie.

As I mentioned in original post this rooftop scheme has no detail to it. Like the Fl State legislature was going to force localities to roll back taxes 30-40%. After a year of back room deals in Talahassee the tax cut in my county turned out to be 4-5%. By the time the Gov., the Terminator, and the various legislatures get a real proposal passed for the ballot this rooftop scheme might be a single panel large enough to run an electric razor.
Crist and the Terminator want to go on record as 'the environmentally aware governors.' If past Florida politics is an indicator, whatever they do will be stupid. They always start out with a fairly sane idea and 2,000 compromises later end up with something that is FUBAR.

Concentrated Solar Power, CSP, can't be put on residential rooftops. They need a clear field so they can track the sun. Or you use a solar tower with heliostats to point the sun at the top of the tower. It is utility grade stuff and not ideal for Florida, due to hazy skies and hurricanes. But Florida could go with batch solar heaters on everyone's roof or in their backyard. These have no moving parts and replace from 50 to 100% of the hot water needs for a family of two. Hot water accounts for 20% of the electric use in Florida homes and solar can eliminate it entirely. With a bit of incentives from the state of Florida utilities could do the job on getting these installed.

I have had a batch heater since 1999 and now look forward to free hot water forever in my home. Many times it is hotter than you can get from an electric heater. I'll know we are serious when we put batch heaters on every roof in Florida.

It points out that during periods of paradigm shift, a lot of things are going to be tried and not all of them are going to be winners. A lot like the Cambrian explosion.

Wind will be a winner, but not every single implementation of it. There will be casualties along the way.

I think it's insurance that's going to be the death knell for coastal real estate. Eventually, the taxpayers are going to get ticked off at paying for it. It's not like these are poor people who need the help. These are often the filthy rich, who had a one million-dollar home wiped out by a hurricane, then used taxpayers' money to build a 2 million dollar home.

Florida has had the most insurance problems, because of all of the hurricanes, but All-State recently dropped New York and other east coast areas. Even though they haven't been hit by hurricanes recently, they will, and the insurance companies know it.

Any real estate at less than 200 ft. above MSL should be avoided for, umm let's see..., about 200 years or so.

Of course if you can trust your climate models, just buy a hill and have an island later!

| _{The problem will solve itself.}
|  _{But not in a nice way.}