After Hurricane Sandy, The Costs Of Doing Nothing To Protect New York Come Into Focus

[marmar]

from HuffPost:



NEW YORK -- For years, the city and the state of New York commissioned reports about the dangers of rising sea levels combined with a powerful hurricane. And for years, dissuaded by the costs of doing something, New York put in place few new preparations for a massive storm surge.

Now we have the first glimpse of the costs of doing nothing: at least 97 deaths in and around New York City, and $33 billion in damage from Hurricane Sandy in New York State alone, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Next time the damage done in dollars and in lives could be far worse. At its peak, Sandy was only a Category 1 storm. Its winds never went above 90 miles per hour near New York. Were something like a Category 4 storm, with winds of 131 to 155 miles per hour, to make landfall near the city, the devastation would be awful.

Many more would die. Houses would be toppled over by sheer windforce, subway tunnels could be flooded for months instead of a week, and the economic capital of the United States could be paralyzed. The city would incur $500 billion worth of damage, according to a 2006 analysis by the Department of Homeland Security. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/hurricane-sandy-new-york_n_2171199.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Lower Manhattan was under water.

The waters receded this time.

What if they don't next time? Is New York City ready to give up its real estate? Wall Street?

[FarCenter]

3. Manhattan is probably pretty easy to protect

The World Trade Center, for example, sits in a huge reinforced concrete bathtub that extends far below the water level of the Hudson River. It would seem possible to extend this structure upwards another 20 to 40 feet in order to keep out flood waters.

The same approach could be taken to protect the lower couple of floors of other buildings in the lower lying areas of Manhattan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bathtub

[dkf]

2. Can we do much to protect from a level 3 or 4 storm?

I can see barriers for storm surges, but I wonder what is the possibility of building houses that can withstand that.