Southern Manhattan SIRR Meeting

Hi guys! Here's my summary of the SIRR meeting for what they were calling "Southern Manhattan"

SIRR identifies themselves as the long-term arm of the city bureaucracy working in post Sandy recovery. The Office of Housing Recovery is responsible for the short and intermediate-term response.  Their major work is in identification of future risks and in preparation and response. 

Their mission statement can be summed up in the following tasks and  goals:

Task 1: Mitigating the impact of climate change on the built environment.

Task 2: Community rebuilding and resiliency planning.

Goals: ensure life safety, strengthen infrastructure, and promote economic recovery.

This meeting defined Southern Manhattan as the area south of 42nd street. This area contains many neighborhoods and critical citywide infrastructure.During their initial presentation, they stated that this storm caused flooding 30% higher than any in recorded history. They compared flooding due to surge action and flood action. The former affects infrastructure rather than buildings structure.

The inundation caused by Sandy followed the fill of Manhattan and the historic marshlands. There was little  flooding due to wave action because of buffering by other land masses. This meant that Battery Park, which is built on infill, at a higher elevation  than other areas. They proposed that this is in part due to the area serving its original residential purpose. The areas affected by the tidal surge were directly to the north and south, where infill met previously established land.

The main risks the area faces in the future are storm surges, sea level rises, and heat waves. In order to prepare for these future risks, the city seeks to protect the waterfront and infrastructure also located there, from flooding. They want to see buildings protected and retrofitted to repair flooding weaknesses. They want to see the economic recovery of retail and commercial areas. 

DOB tag information: 
Borough totals:13 %  of tagged buildings were destroyed by storm 40% were red tagged because of sustained damage. 
Manhattan totals: Less than 5% of the red-tagged buildings were on Manhattan, the rest were yellow-tagged.

34% buildings red or yellow tagged buildings were out of bounds of 100 year flood plane developed in the 1980s by FEMA. 50% of the residential units and 50% of the overall buildings damaged were outside those flood plane boundaries. New flood plane maps wont be final until 2015, and they don't reflect rising sea levels.

There were several examples shown of ways to protect the waterfront while still keeping it accessible, and alterations to increase the resiliency of buildings. Examples inclduded: 

Deployabe floodwalls in the UK.
Hurricane barrier in Stanford Ct. Height of a person.
Flood wall in ky. Much higher than the Stanford wall.
Multi-level esplanade in Battery Park city.
High landscaped bank in Providence RI.
Protectable subway entrances in Chicago, and Bangkok, Thailand.

Inflatable tunnel plugs.
Deployable flood gate for storefronts in Venice, Italy
Demountable flood barrier for buildings.
Putting mechanical equipment on roof, which may require an additional water-tight structure to be constructed.
Raised building ground floors.

I identified 8 major points made in the group discussion, many of which are things we have already been talking about.

1. Evacuation plans. Areas of infrastructure to focus on inclusive power stations and sanitation.Having an accessible plan for residents and businesses, and having that plan include emergency procedures on a building and regional scale. Outlining a response kit with what people should have to be prepared beyond food and water, such as what you should have purchased from Home Depot beforehand.
2. Communication was inefficient in areas where there was no power. Could utilize pay phones as emergency communications hubs and power stations. Another group proposed solar charging stations and roving cell phone towers on cars or trucks. to target information distribution, identify areas by zip code.
3. Infrastructure lags behind in in areas where there has been a change of use of structures, such as industrial areas that are now residential. 
4. Increase the number of permeable areas and areas that will absorb the water.Waterfront parks as a barrier to surges. Proactive planning of alternate transportation such as bikes.
5. Concentration of infrastructure on the coast. Use of upper floors for emergency storage and infrastructure. Consideration and protection of the network that we rely on to receive goods and resources. Example is that gas stations had no way to receive a supply of gas, leading to high prices and long lines in some areas.
6. Education, explain climate change and preventative measures. Need to look at sustainability and mitigating the impact of climate change. 
7. Move from loans to grants and taxes. An investment tax credit, where people donate and the money can be used in recovery situations.
8. Social issues, strong ties and networks that exist with current resources. People can together and helped each other. Neighbor to neighbor help was the biggest contributor to recovery.  These networks were underutilized and could be used in prevention rather than reactions. The recovery so far has focused more on returning to the state before the storm, rather than a more rational response.