Miami City Block Arrives in Amsterdam

The floating Miami city block that broke off of its anchorage during hurricane Persephone has drifted into European waters this week. It has followed the Gulf Stream across the Atlantic and drifted north up to the waters around the Netherlands - in a few days it will be offshore of Amsterdam. 

Although adrift for nearly six months, the block is largely intact but substantially overgrown - the block’s wildlife seems to have thrived in its time away from Miami. Drone footage has shown packs of wild dogs running free throughout the block, and an abundance of Atlantic seabirds nesting on the rooftops. Most surprisingly, however, was the native Floridian alligator spotted in an abandoned swimming pool. Many wildlife groups have warned of the danger of these animals escaping and becoming invasive species.   

Dutch locals are split over the arrival. Some have hailed the block as an opportunity to build social housing: “knock the thing down and build over it,” the deputy leader of the Dutch Labor Party has said, “you could house thousands on that thing.” Many have argued that the block is insecure and may collapse under the pressure of reconstruction - the block was left derelict for years in Miami, decaying and polluting, making any significant building work difficult and dangerous. 

The Americans so far have been quiet on the matter, with the Miami Governor only offering a brief apology. “I sincerely regret the circumstances - we have lost a part of Miami, a part of our home. But, I hope the Dutch can make something better out of it. I hope that they can think of it as a gift, a piece of America.”The fiasco has followed the Governor these past six months with incessant rumors that the block’s ‘disappearance’ may have been intentional. After all, the block was in such a state of disrepair that it had already been abandoned by the state, evacuated, and cordoned off.   

The Dutch Prime Minister called a press conference this morning. He suggested a plan to return the block to Florida with the iceberg-towing ships used in Antarctica - with assumption that it will be funded by the American side.  “The block is not a gift. It is an environmental and safety hazard - they can have it back.” American officials are expected to resist paying for the operation and don’t seem to want the block back at all. 

Sinking  the block in the neutral waters in the middle of the Atlantic could be considered a compromise, although this has already caught the attention of environmental activists worldwide. 

Several homeless people drifted together with the block and are trying to claim it as a “legitimate salvage”. They are considering proclaiming it an independent state.