Flood Barrier USA

Will Flood Barriers Save New York?

Author: Donna Conneely

The states of New Jersey and New York sustained spectacular damage during Hurricane Sandy, which struck during the final days of October 2012. Much of the world-famous Jersey Shore was swept away, and major cities along the storm’s route were inundated. Damage to infrastructure, businesses, and other properties was severe, and it will be many years before the effects of the hurricane are completely repaired.

New York, N.Y., Dec. 6, 2012 — One month after Hurricane Sandy, buildings in Downtown Manhattan were still recovering from water damages. FEMA can provide supplemental assistance for State and Local Government based on their recovery expenses. Ashley Andujar/FEMA

Already worried about the next big storm, city officials in New York and New Jersey are looking at ways to prevent this type of severe disaster from happening again. After the storm, an official commission was formed to study the damage caused by the hurricane and to identify ways of lessening destruction from future storms.

The findings of the commision were released in December, and the main recommendation consists of building flood barriers in strategic spots. The experts believe that subways and other types low-lying infrastructure should be protected by automatic flood panels that spring into place as needed.

In addition to these man-made flood panels, beaches should be defended by natural flood barriers such as sand or earthen berms. In fact, many of the beach communities that escaped major damage from Hurricane Sandy were the ones that had such berms in place before the storm.

The many tunnels in the New York metropolitan area were also severely affected by the storm. It took weeks of round-the-clock pumping to drain tunnels and storm drains of the the floodwaters from the massive storm. The storm review commission recommends that these also be protected by flood panels; inflatable, pop-up, and roll-down flood barriers are all being discussed as protection for these vulnerable areas.

In addition to flood barriers, the commission suggested powerful pumps for the airport and other transit stations, the construction or renovation of disaster shelters, improved communications, and the recruitment of rapid-response electricians and other skilled workers who would augment the regular emergency response teams.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is currently seeking the funds to implement many of the commission’s recommendations. As weather experts continue to warn that major storms will become a frequent feature in the coming years, flood barriers will make all the difference between an unpleasant storm and a disastrous one.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 20th, 2013 at 9:13 pm and is filed under Flood Protection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.