Sea level experts said Tuesday South Florida is increasingly endangered by sea level rise as climate change threatens coastal communities, according to AFP.com.

During a special Senate hearing held in Miami Beach, Senator Bill Nelson described south Florida as "Ground Zero" for climate change since the coast has already seen 12 inches, or 30 centimeters, of sea rise since 1870, AFP.com reported.

Nearly 20 million people live in the entire state of Florida, and about three quarters live on the coast which is located just four feet above sea level, Nelson said, according to AFP.com. The perils for Miami are particularly concerning because it has the most assets at stake in the world in terms of assets like homes, beachfront hotels and businesses.

Miami has about $14.7 billion in beachfront property and is also home to the world's fourth largest population of people vulnerable to sea level rise, according to the World Resources Institute, a global research firm, AFP.com reported.

By the year 2060, another nine inches to two feet, or about 23 to 61 centimeters, are anticipated by 2060, the WRI report said, according to AFP.com.

"We are on this massive substrate of limestone and coquina rock which is porous and infused by water," Nelson said at the Senate hearing held on Earth Day, AFP.com reported.

"You could put up a dyke but it is not going to do any good," Nelson added, according to AFP.com. "We have to come up with new, innovative kinds of solutions."

The mayor of Miami Beach, Philip Levine, said residents are commonly seen wading through knee-deep waters to get to their homes and businesses during high tides and floods, AFP.com reported.

"This reality is not acceptable and it is getting worse," Levine said, according to AFP.com.