The view from the perspective of facilities managers.
Rebuilding the Shores, Increasing the Risks.
![[coast]](https://i0.wp.com/farm4.static.flickr.com/3136/2573451515_a89ff75c4f_m.jpg "[coast]")
NY Times, April 9.
A review of the tradeoffs between reconstruction and miitigation. The article reviews the Coastal Barrier Resources Act, which was as intended to protect much of the American coastline, passed during the Reagan era.
According this this Washongton Post article, 243 million Americans affected by weather disasters since 2007
Drought, record heat and Hurricane Sandy were among the major weather-related disasters that affected the United States in 2012. But just how many Americans felt the impact of these events? A newly released report from the Environment America Research and Policy Center says 243 million people – nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population – live in counties that experienced at least one weather-related disaster since 2007.
See this article re the new forecast for Atlantic coast Hurricanes in 2013, from the hurricane experts at the Colorado State University. The Colorado forecasting team predicts 18 tropical storms in 2013, of which nine will be hurricanes.
It seems this is the first of 3 reports on the topic to be issued. For the full text (34 page) of the report, go to this CO State website.
I want to call your attention to the March 26th posting on this blog, regarding the new CRS report on the federal legislation passed to help with recovery from Hurricane Sandy. An excellent set of comments have come in since the initial posting; they appear at the end of the posting. They are worth reading if you are seriously interested in the current issues/problems.
One more resource: here is the direct link to the full text of the Executive Order that established the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force.
In talking to various friends and colleagues who have been doing field work in the aftermath of Sandy, some of the reasons for Sec. Donovan heading the task force might be:
The Diva is open to more information from readers. Feel free to chime in.
Thus far the work of the task force is rather opaque; the HUD website has not been updated for months.
An example of the difficult decision regarding mitigation measures for the Jersey shoreline after H. Sandy. Much A-Dune About Jersey Shoreline Project.
One more article on the same topic. April 7.
I ran across this graphic and thought it was worth sharing. It does make sea level rise more real. I definitely can relate since I have lived in 3 of the 8 cities shown. Check out this site.
On April 6, the NYTimes published this article about melting icecaps, dealing with the topic of global warming..
A wealth of resources on transportation issues/need in the post disaster setting, from the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciencies.
As noted by the Univ. of CO/Boulder in their newsletter (April 5th):
When it comes to keeping citizens safe during transit, the Transportation Research Board has 101 ways to make it happen. Actually, make that 111 ways—and learn the status of them all in this monthly report. Since 2001, the TRB has been busy making sure travel in the United States is safe from terrorist threats and other dangers. So far, they and their partners have completed 111 research projects, with another 24 in progress and 10 in development. The report is a quick and easy way to keep tabs on $20 million devoted to keeping everything from railways to waterways terrorist-free.
Given the current debate about the really big Keystone pipeline project, this latest incident is causing serious harm in a small community; and the event raises many issues that need to be faced about pipeline safety and the management of spills and accidents. See this news account.
More details will be coming from one of our readers.
What makes this incident unusual is that pipelines are the responsibility of the Dept. of Transportation. So the responsibility for managing this disaster event is with DOT. Most of the disasters experienced recently in the U.S., and talked about in this blog, have received disaster declarations and are the responsibility of FEMA. The major exception was the Deep Water Horizon disaster, which was a hazardous material disaster, hence was managed under the National Contingency Plan by the Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA.
The new flood maps, if approved, would add more than 65,000 structures in New York and New Jersey to the 100-year-flood zones—areas that FEMA believes face a 1 percent-a-year change of flooding. Everyone in those zones is required to get flood insurance….
The solution we support would result in a better and more proactive approach and leverage a stronger public-private partnership. This approach would strengthen America’s financial infrastructure by building a privately funded national catastrophe fund.A national catastrophe fund that is part of a comprehensive, integrated program will help address insurance affordability and expand coverage options for all homeowners while protecting taxpayers from the seemingly endless need to provide emergency relief.
Recovery Diva 