Hurricane Proof

One of the formidable challenges of architecture and general contracting is developing construction that can withstand the elements.

 
Hurricane Sandy was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the second-costliest hurricane in United States history. Classified as the eighteenth named storm, tenth hurricane and second major hurricane of the year, Sandy was a Category 3 storm at its peak intensity when it made landfall in Cuba. While it was a Category 2 storm off the coast of the Northeastern United States, the storm became the largest Atlantic hurricane on record (as measured by diameter, with winds spanning 1,100 miles (1,800 km)). Preliminary estimates assess damage at nearly $75 billion (2012 USD), a total surpassed only by Hurricane Katrina. At least 285 people were killed along the path of the storm in seven countries. The severe and widespread damage the storm caused in the United States, as well as its unusual merge with a frontal system, resulted in the nicknaming of the hurricane by the media and several organizations of the U.S. government "Superstorm Sandy".

 


 





Sandy developed from a tropical wave in the western Caribbean Sea on October 22, quickly strengthened, and was upgraded to Tropical Storm Sandy six hours later. Sandy moved slowly northward toward the Greater Antilles and gradually intensified. On October 24, Sandy became a hurricane, made landfall near Kingston, Jamaica, a few hours later, re-emerged into the Caribbean Sea and strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane. On October 25, Sandy hit Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane, then weakened to a Category 1 hurricane. Early on October 26, Sandy moved through the Bahamas. On October 27, Sandy briefly weakened to a tropical storm and then restrengthened to a Category 1 hurricane. Early on October 29, Sandy curved north-northwest and then moved ashore near Brigantine, New Jersey, just to the northeast of Atlantic City, as a post-tropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds.

 

In Jamaica, winds left 70% of residents without electricity, blew roofs off buildings, killed one, and caused about $100 million (2012 USD) in damage. In Haiti, Sandy's outer bands brought flooding that killed at least 54, caused food shortages, and left about 200,000 homeless. In the Dominican Republic, two died. In Puerto Rico, one man was swept away by a swollen river. In Cuba, there was extensive coastal flooding and wind damage inland, destroying some 15,000 homes, killing 11, and causing $2 billion (2012 USD) in damage. In The Bahamas, two died amid an estimated $700 million (2012 USD) in damage. In Canada, two were killed in Ontario and an estimated $100 million (2012 CAD) in damage was caused throughout Ontario and Quebec.






 

In the United States, Hurricane Sandy affected 24 states, including the entire eastern seaboard from Florida to Maine and west across the Appalachian Mountains to Michigan and Wisconsin, with particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York. Its storm surge hit New York City on October 29, flooding streets, tunnels and subway lines and cutting power in and around the city. Damage in the US is estimated at over $71 billion (2012 USD). It forced the release of over 10 billion gallons of raw and partially treated sewage 94% of which went into waters in and around New York and New Jersey.


This week Oklahoma had a close encounter with a massive tornado that tore through Oklahoma City suburbs that has been upgraded by the National Weather Service to EF5, the strongest rating.  Rescue workers on Tuesday were going building to building in Moore, Okla., in search of victims. At least 24 people are confirmed dead; thousands of survivors were homeless. Emergency workers pulled more than 100 survivors from the rubble of homes, schools and a hospital, and around 237 people were injured. Cadaver dogs sniffed through the scattered planks and bricks of ruined homes on Tuesday.

 

The 2-mile wide tornado ripped through Moore on the outskirts of Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, trapping victims beneath the rubble and tossing vehicles about as if they were toys. On block after block of residential neighborhoods, there was nothing left but mangled debris.
 





In 2011, New York City escaped the worst of Hurricane Irene. In 2012, the "frankenstorm" combination of Hurricane Sandy and other storm systems are bearing down on the Northeast. Back in 2011, using U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' calculations, Popular Mechanics (PM) magazine examined how much damage a direct hit by a hurricane could cause to New York City. Here's what super storms are made of—and how the whole country can prepare for the worst.

 

 

The hurricane churning east of New Jersey seems destined for the mid-Atlantic. Then a cold front descending out of Canada nudges the Category 2 storm northwest instead—setting it on a worst-case course for New York City.

 

 New York Harbor has often sheltered the city, dissipating energy from violent gales that start at sea. But now it plays an opposite role: It turns an otherwise moderate hurricane into a disaster. As the eye of the storm passes over Staten Island, the 100-mph counterclockwise winds shove 500 million tons of seawater directly into the harbor. The narrowing shorelines and shallowing sea bottom cause the mass of water to build. By the time the storm surge washes over the shores of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan, it towers 11 to 15 feet high.

 

 Water flows through New York's financial district and reaches 2 miles into southern Brooklyn and Queens, flooding 2900 miles of roads. Impromptu rivers gush into subway stations and pour through hundreds of sidewalk gratings.

 


In Manhattan, the lower levels of Penn Station and Grand Central fill with water. The subway floods within 40 minutes—paralyzing the city's chief form of public transportation. Three of the four automobile tunnels linking Manhattan to the outer boroughs and New Jersey also flood, submerging hundreds of cars stranded in traffic jams during evacuation. A million people lose electricity and phone service as floods shut down 10 power plants and the emergency generators powering cellphone towers.

 

 While this scenario may sound like yet another apocalypse-in-New York summer blockbuster, it was produced using calculations from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—and it's been given serious attention from government planners. That 1995 Army Corps report and a 2006 analysis by the Department of Homeland Security predict that a Category 4 hurricane scoring a direct hit on New York City would inflict $500 billion worth of damage—quadruple that wrought by Category 5 Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

 

A third study, released this September by New York state, predicts that an even milder, Category 1 hurricane or winter nor'easter could inundate the city's subway and cause $58 billion in losses. Experts don't consider such disastrous flooding a mere possibility; they believe it's a certainty—a one-in-100-year event. Sea level rise will upgrade it to a one-in-35-year event by 2080.

 "We've been very, very lucky because we haven't had that [direct hit]," says Cynthia Rosenzweig, a climate-impact scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York who has helped guide the city's storm- and climate-­planning effort. "But the potential vulnerability for that is very high."

 

Every region of the U.S. is subject to catastrophic storms of one type or another. While the severe floods and tornadoes that devastated large swaths of the country this spring surprised many people, there's no reason they should have. Annual losses from natural hazards have increased severalfold over time—costing the nation $573 billion in crops and property since 1960. Americans are turning even routine storms into full-blown disasters by settling where they strike. Then, when vulnerable infrastructure is swept away, people have exhibited a steadfast commitment to rebuilding it.




 "There are more people living in what we might consider to be high-hazard areas," says Susan Cutter, a disaster scientist at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. These include coastal areas, floodplains and places especially prone to tornadoes and landslides. By 2040, 70 percent of the U.S. population—which should then number 400 million—is expected to concentrate in 11 megaregions, seven of which occupy coastal counties.

 

 If New York—part of the Northeast megaregion—suffers a direct hit, workers will spend weeks pumping a billion gallons of brackish water out of its subway and train tunnels. The salt will corrode power lines, transformers and thousands of brakes and switches that control the trains. Some subsystems could take a year or more to restore.

 

 To avoid such a scenario, New York state recommends the city invest well over $100 million a year in storm protections. City planners are already experimenting with dozens of low-tech fixes, says Adam Freed, deputy director of the Mayor's Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. These include raising subway vents above sidewalks, installing several-inch-high barriers around subway entrances and using porous pavement. They've also considered building lips around rooftops to slow the percolation of water into streets and sewers, because every inch of rain that falls on New York translates to a billion gallons of storm water that must be managed.

 




Some observers, such as Malcolm Bowman, an oceanographer at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, have even suggested that four massive barriers be built across the waterways surrounding the city. The arms would swing shut during severe storms—much like those of the Maeslantkering, a barrier that protects the Port of Rotterdam from surges in the North Sea.