A new study finds that a massive section of Antarctica’s Western Ice Sheet may have begun an “unstoppable” collapse, with total eradication of the glaciers possibly happening in a thousand years, or even within the next few centuries.

Although the information released does not change much of the predictions for short-term sea level elevation, it does show that the world must consider how to prepare for the long-term effects, which could come up even more quickly than previously believed.

On average, since 1901, the global sea level has risen eight inches. According to the most recent information issued from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, projections show that it is possible for two and a half feet of the sea level to rise by the year 2100. Even just the glacial melting from West Antarctica could result in the sea level rising four feet during the next few hundred years. Four feet of sea level rise is enough to intensify flooding risks for many major coastal cities in the U.S.

However, over the long-term, melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could cause a much higher increase in water levels. In some areas, there could be up to 10 to 14 feet of sea level rise. Florida, of course, is the state with the highest risk of land being consumed with salt water. If water was to raise four feet, more than 2,120 square miles of land would be underwater. This would leave all of Miami flooded.

Even worse, looking at the long-term predictions, a 10-foot increase in sea level would engulf all of South Florida. To put this into perspective, all of the land from Naples on the west coast to Ft. Lauderdale in the east coast would be under water.

The way we can really see these affects happening now is during hurricane season. Storm surges cause drastically worse flooding with just a few inches of the sea level rising. A prime example of this was Hurricane Sandy pummeling New York City in 2012. Not surprisingly, in this area of New York, the water had been 12 inches higher than it had been in the last century, causing catastrophic damage. Hurricane Sandy gave a profound look at how much we will have to do to move every single inch of our coastal metropolises higher and higher to avoid the portent looming in the near future.