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Alex Harris - Miami Herald staff writer
Alex Harris

Miami Herald staff writer

Alex Harris covers climate change for the Miami Herald, including how South Florida communities are adapting to the warming world. She attended the University of Florida.

  1. Historic storm surge. Record flooding. Ian’s lesson in the rising risk of hurricanes
    Oct. 1, 2022• Hurricane
    Damaged homes and debris are shown in the wake of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach.
  2. Florida’s latest homeowners insurance crisis is a mess decades in the making
    Aug. 12, 2022• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Aerial of a mobile home community in the Homestead area, destroyed by Hurricane Andrew.
  3. Future seawalls: Higher, stronger and better for marine life
    Apr. 16, 2022• Environment
    Pelicans and other sea birds are perch along a dilapidated seawall near Gandy Boulevard. New designs being tested would make seawalls more durable and less harmful to the environment for expected sea level rise. [CHRIS URSO | Times (2021)]
  5. Florida’s statewide climate change response ignores cause
    Mar. 12, 2022• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    TECO's Big Bend Station sits on the eastern shore of Tampa Bay near Apollo Beach.
  6. DeSantis’ new climate change plan: $270 million for first wave of statewide projects
    Dec. 7, 2021• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in center, addresses the audience during a news conference at R E Olds Park, 107 Shore Drive W, on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021 in Oldsmar.
  7. Miami planned to end natural gas hookups to help cut emissions. Then TECO asked them not to
    Nov. 17, 2021• Business
    View of the Brickell's skyline financial center, where business-commercial towers and luxury condos tower come together over Biscayne Bay. on Wednesday, May 30, 2019.
  8. Zeta to regain hurricane strength as warnings issued from Louisiana to Florida Panhandle
    Oct. 28, 2020• Hurricane
    Tourists walk past debris littering the street after Hurricane Zeta's landfall in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, early Tuesday. Zeta is leaving Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula on a path that could hit New Orleans Wednesday night.
  9. Trump expands ban on new Florida offshore drilling sites
    Sep. 8, 2020• The Buzz
    President Donald Trump speaks on the environment at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020, in Jupiter, Fla
  10. Your Florida coastal home could lose 15% of its value by 2030 due to sea rise
    Jan. 17, 2020• Real Estate
    Flooding from an October king tide in Miami Shores fills streets, sidewalks and driveways at its peak.
  11. Florida to buy 20,000 acres in Everglades, largest purchase in 10 years
    Jan. 15, 2020• The Buzz
    Gov. Ron Desantis announced a plan to buy 20,000 acres of land in the Everglades currently slated for oil and gas drilling from the Kanter family this year, Florida’s largest land acquisition in a decade.
  12. A South Florida town’s pioneering plan to fund retreat from sea rise
    Dec. 27, 2019• Environment
    Daryle Prager, 81, stands at the highest point this year’s King Tides reached in her waterfront yard in Surfside. She said she doesn’t have much time before the water reaches her home, so she’s forced to sell the house.
  13. Florida Keys may abandon some roads to sea rise rather than raise them
    Dec. 6, 2019• Environment
    Motorists head north of Key Largo on U.S. 1, in anticipation of Hurricane Irma on Sept. 6, 2017. Keys officials announced a mandatory evacuation Wednesday for visitors, with residents being told to leave the next day. [Associated Press]
  14. Florida Keys faces huge bill to survive sea rise. Will state help?
    Nov. 26, 2019• Environment
    This is a king tide at the Key Largo Kampground & Marina in Key Largo. (Photo by Nancy Snyder)
  15. Florida’s troops face more heat risk from climate change than any other state
    Nov. 14, 2019• Military
    Maintainers prepare KC-135s refueling planes to be evacuated from MacDill Air Force Base in August. A new study predicts MacDill and other Florida bases will experience a sharp rise in the number of days when the heat index tops 100 degrees Fahrenheit, making it unsafe to be outside for extended periods.
  16. Florida’s building code doesn’t take sea rise into account. That could change this year.
    Nov. 12, 2019• Florida
    Flood-elevation requirements for permanent Florida Keys homes could mean local ‘tiny homes’ wind up with more square footage than most of the diminutive domiciles.
  17. In Florida, home sellers don’t have to disclose a history of flooding
    Oct. 26, 2019• Environment
    Water from heavy rain floods a driveway in August on Snell Isle Boulevard NE in St. Petersburg. ALLIE GOULDING | Times
  18. Miami Beach has a bold idea to fight sea rise: Turn a golf course into wetlands
    Sep. 23, 2019• Environment
    Golfers practice at the Miami Beach Golf Club at 2301 Alton Road, on Sept.18.
  19. Democratic candidates reveal tough new reality for Florida on climate change
    Sep. 12, 2019• The Buzz
    Signage is erected for the upcoming Democratic presidential primary debates hosted by ABC on the campus of Texas Southern University, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
  20. Girl, 8, got on 'tippy toes' to peer over cruise ship railing, then fell to her death
    Oct. 17, 2017• News
    Friends and family mourn Zion Smith, the 8-year-old girl who fell to her death aboard a Carnival cruise in Miami this weekend. [Image from Facebook]
  21. Mother whose Miami teen livestreamed suicide describes events of that night
    Mar. 17, 2017• News
    Gina Alexis, center, mother of 14-year-old Nakia Venant, who livestreamed her suicide on Facebook, pauses as she talks about her daughter during a news conference, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017, in Plantation. Nakia Venant's suicide is at least the third to be livestreamed nationally in the last month. [Associated Press]
  22. Hundreds of people watched a Miami teen kill herself in a live stream video, but no one got her help in time
    Jan. 26, 2017• News
    Among items posted on Facebook was a haunting text message exchange involving Naika Venant, who hanged herself at a Miami Gardens foster home while live-streaming on Facebook.