General Contracting Ahead

Because New York is the nation's city with the largest population it would be expected to have above average construction activity. Along with that is the fact that New York has an infrastructure that is among the oldest. The challenge to New York City government, architects and general contractors is to maintain the integrity of the structure of the many buildings, bridges, parks and tunnels for public and private safety, and enjoyment.

New York has entered its second year after Hurricane Sandy without benefiting from the construction expansion that billions of relief funding had predicted. New York City implemented the Rapid Repairs program that tasked teams of general contractors and sub contractors with restoring heat and lighting to households hit by Hurricane Sandy.

Many survivors are grateful to the New York City government for sending general contractors,and inspectors into the ravaged areas to help homeowners who faced cold nights without lights, heat and hot water.

Rapid Repairs

Home Owners

Rapid Repairs was a first-of-its-kind pilot program to provide free, government assistance to thousands of homeowners left without heat, power and hot water after Hurricane Sandy. No other city has ever responded to a natural disaster by offering emergency repairs to allow homeowners to shelter in their own homes. Rapid Repairs restored essential, emergency services and served as a critical first step in helping residents rebuild their homes more quickly.

Between November 2012 and March 2013, Rapid Repairs restored heat, power and hot water in more than 11,700 homes representing over 20,000 residential units affected by Hurricane Sandy. At the peak of the program more than 2,000 workers were completing over 200 homes each day.

If the violation or deficiency was issued to the electrician or plumber, it is their responsibility to fix the deficiency. If the violation or deficiency was issued to the homeowner, it is the homeowner's responsibility to resolve it. If you have questions about your violation or deficiency, contact the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) by calling 311.

Rapid Repairs provided free, emergency heat, hot water, and electricity so that homeowners could shelter in place while making more permanent repairs to their homes. When Rapid Repairs completed work on your home, an independent quality inspector verified that the installed equipment was working properly. All maintenance and repairs are now the responsibility of the homeowner.

Information for Owners of Multi-family Dwellings

NYC Build it Back has a Multi-family Program designed to assist owners of properties with five or more apartments within all five boroughs affected by Hurricane Sandy. Rental properties, condominiums, and cooperative buildings are all potentially eligible. Financial assistance will be provided as a forgivable loan to cover unmet need for rehabilitation of buildings that sustained damage as a result of Sandy. In addition, the City intends to strengthen the housing infrastructure by identifying opportunities to increase resiliency against future events.

The Program’s objectives include:

1. Assist properties affected by Sandy by funding the unmet need for the rehabilitation of eligible multi-family buildings. Work funded may include repairing damage to common spaces, mechanical systems, and individual apartments. “Unmet need” is the difference between the total cost of the repairs, less any amount paid to the property owner from any other sources, including insurance.
   
   
2. Help multi-family buildings affected by Sandy by improving the resilience of their properties while restoring their buildings.
   
   
3. Prioritize assistance to NYC's most vulnerable populations, including residents with low to moderate income, and properties which suffered the most severe damage. City representatives will guide owners through the process including determining the building’s eligibility, developing a scope of work to be funded under the program and overseeing construction.
   
   

Renters

The City is offering a temporary rental subsidy and housing referral assistance to low-income renters who were New York City residents during Hurricane Sandy and remain displaced from their homes as a result of the storm. The type of assistance offered depends on household income.

The chart below contains the maximum household income according to household size, to be considered for either the rental subsidy or the housing referral program. The maximums are determined by percentages of Area Median Income (AMI), a common measure used by federal housing programs to determine eligibility for government assistance.

Household Size	Maximum Household Income for Rental Subsidy (50% of AMI)	Maximum Household Income for Housing Referral (80% of AMI)
1	$30,100	$48,100
2	$34,400	$55,000
3	$38,700	$61,850
4	$42,950	$68,700
5	$46,400	$74,200
6	$49,850	$79,700
7	$53,300	$85,200
8	$56,700	$90,700

Rental Subsidy (TDAP)

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) created the Temporary Disaster Assistance Program (TDAP) to serve very low-income renter households (up to 50% AMI) who are displaced from their New York City homes as a result of Hurricane Sandy. TDAP rental subsidy is limited to two years, and must be used within New York City. Households are required to pay 30% of their income toward rent.

Initial income eligibility is determined through the central Build it Back 311 intake process. Income and other eligibility factors are further reviewed and confirmed through the TDAP program at HPD

Housing Referral

HPD is offering assistance with apartment referrals to low-income renter households (up to 80% AMI) who are displaced from their New York City homes as a result of Hurricane Sandy. Eligible households identified through the Build It Back 311 intake process may work with a housing placement coordinator who will provide referrals to owners and managers of available affordable apartments.

If renters accept an apartment referral, HPD will send their name and contact information to the owner/manager, who will call the renter to schedule an interview. From that point on, the renter is responsible for all communication and coordination with owner/manager through move-in. A total of three referrals will be provided.

HPD does not provide assistance with fees, deposits, or moving expenses. TDAP participants may also request assistance with housing referrals.

Information for renters with household incomes greater than 80% AMI Urban Edge: The City has worked with the independent real estate website, Urban Edge, to provide short term listings for displaced Sandy renters. You may also search their database of long term options, which includes landlords who have expressed a desire to work with displaced Sandy renters. More information is available at www.urbanedgeny.com/sandy.

Information for renters of all incomes

Relocation Assistance: If you live in a property damaged by Sandy and if your building owner is a participant in the Build it Back Program which requires you to move during construction funded by the program, you will be contacted regarding your right to relocation benefits during your landlord’s intake process for the Build it Back program. Benefits include advisory services (including the offer of a comparable unit), payments equal to any increase of rent you must pay for a comparable unit during the construction process (up to 42 months), and moving expenses.

Completions

Since it sprang into action following Superstorm Sandy on Nov. 20, the city's Rapid Repairs program has now worked on 20,000 individual residences in roughly 12,000 properties, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced in Broad Channel, Queens, on Friday. To datem the $500 million program has helped get 54,000 New Yorkers back into their homes and apartments. By end of March 2013, the city expects its docket of needed repairs to be empty, though the program will remain in place to assist any other property owners who still need work done.

NYC Rapid Repairs Program

Reactions to Rapid Repairs

A Tale of Two Cities

Rapid Repairs Backlog

Rapid Repairs Backlog

Rockaway Beach

Occupy Brooklyn TV

The New York City Housing Authority

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is committed to increasing opportunities for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers by providing safe, affordable housing and facilitating access to social and community services. More than 400,000 New Yorkers reside in NYCHA’s 334 public housing developments around the five boroughs, and another 235,000 receive subsidized rental assistance in private homes through the NYCHA-administered Section 8 Leased Housing Program.

To fulfill its vital mission and even better serve residents while facing dramatic reductions in traditional government funding, NYCHA is developing new financing options and building innovative partnerships across the public, private, and non-profit sectors. These strategies are helping NYCHA to address many key challenges, from preserving aging housing stock through timely maintenance and modernization of developments, to increasing resident access to a multitude of community, educational and recreational programs, as well as job readiness and training initiatives.

NYCHA Eliminates Nearly 268,000 Repair Work Orders from Its Backlog

NYCHA announced that as of November 1, 2013, it has reduced the number of open work orders from a peak of about 423,000 to approximately 155,000. The current reduction of about 20,000 work orders continues a year of steady progress that has resulted in almost 268,000 fewer open work orders. NYCHA has now reduced the backlog by approximately 80 percent, and is well on the way toward achieving the target of eliminating the backlog by the end of 2013.

NYCHA Chairman Rhea and the Future NYC Housing

NYCHA History Before Hurricane Sandy

The New York City Housing Authority 'repeatedly disobeyed and disregarded clear and unequivocal court orders to fix or restore' the hot water in Cheryl Brown's East River Houses apartment.

NYCHA left a single mother of three without hot water for more than two years — and now shamelessly plans to appeal the nearly $20,000 fine a Manhattan judge ordered it pay her.

The jurist lashed out at New York City Housing Authority bureaucrats, including Chairman John Rhea, for making Cheryl Brown and her children suffer without hot water while repeatedly ignoring orders to fix it.

When confronted Wednesday night at his luxurious Harlem apartment building, Rhea refused to address the decrepit conditions Cheryl Brown lived in for two years.

In a blistering ruling, Manhattan Housing Court Judge Phyllis Saxe found NYCHA in contempt of court and fined it $19,205 for making Brown and her children struggle without hot water in their East Harlem apartment.

“NYCHA repeatedly disobeyed and disregarded clear and unequivocal court orders to fix or restore the hot water in Ms. Brown’s apartment,” Saxe wrote.

She singled out East River Houses building manager Clara Pabon, who admitted she “buried” the transfer to another apartment because Brown was behind in her rent and said she determined the water was hot enough.

NYCHA Repairs Review



NYCHA residents frequently complain about the length of time it can take for even a simple repair to be attended to. Last month, the New York State Assembly even held a hearing on the subject. Tenants talk of maintenance appointments being scheduled for years in the future, and one St. Nicholas Houses resident told NYCinFocus that centralizing NYCHA’s maintenance service was “the worst thing they ever did”.

This new centralized service is known as the Customer Contact Center, and it began operating in 2005. According to NYCHA, it deals with over ten thousand inquiries each day, and over two million every year. What happens when a resident picks up the phone and calls the Customer Contact Center to ask for someone to repair their broken refrigerator?

While each week seems to bring new reports of unsafe or unhealthy conditions in public housing projects, the New York City Housing Authority is sitting on $955 million in unspent funds since 2009. And according to the New York Daily News, it’s now seeking to borrow another $500 million.

The agency has been awarded more than $1.2 billion since 2009 to help maintain living conditions for the 400,000 residents living in its 178,000 apartments across 334 developments. The funds are also meant to help subsidize the city’s 232,000 Section 8 renters. But the agency has spent less than $250 million of the money over the period.

“Why NYCHA is sitting on a pile of money while residents suffer and buildings deteriorate is incomprehensible,” Comptroller John Liu told the News. The paper quoted many public housing tenants complaining of slow responses to complaints and poor living conditions. The money could be used to fix those problems, they said.

But NYCHA board member Margarita Lopez countered that “there are unforeseen factors that have to be put in the equation.” She added: “NYCHA got the money from the federal government … the federal government has different regulations and different demands.” [NYDN]

A NYCHA Housing Story

As it continues its investigations into the finances of the New York City Housing Authority, the New York Daily News found a letter addressed to Mayor Michael Bloomberg last year warning him of the “delay, confusion and complaints” in the agency’s management. But the letter went ignored. Meanwhile, NYCHA was found this week to have been sitting on nearly $1 billion in funds, and has come under fire for failing to install surveillance cameras just as a suspect in a housing project stairwell shooting remains on the loose.

The letter came from the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, a non-profit organization, whose main complaint centered around the agency’s alleged inability to collect another $600 million in revenue. The foundation claims that NYCHA simply failed to apply for this second serving of additional money.

“NYCHA seems to lack the capacity to put credible applications together for these desperately needed finds,” the letter reads.

As reported this week, NYCHA is sitting on a total of $955 million in funds, which are unspent, and is now looking to borrow an additional $500 million. Since 2009, NYCHA has received over $1.2 billion to maintain living conditions for its 400,000 residents, however, the agency has spent less than $250 million of it.

The letter sent to the mayor, which city officials did not respond to requests for comment on, also blasted NYCHA for inefficiencies in scheduling repairs. The Daily News also mentioned that NYCHA has delayed a $42 million purchase for security camera installation in high-crime buildings. Another Daily News article reported NYCHA Chairman John Rhea praised the use of Harlem security cameras to bust drug dealers even as his agency has backed off on the promise to install more throughout the city

NYCHA and HRA Problems

Following near-daily reports of problems in New York City Housing Authority buildings, two studies on the $3 billion-a-year agency revealed severe dysfunction and has finally compelled it to make sweeping changes, the New York Daily News reported. The studies, one conducted internally and one by an outside consultant, found that NYCHA has a backlog of more than 338,000 maintenance orders, some of which won’t be addressed for two years.

As a result, the NYCHA board will be dismantled; two mayoral appointees would be removed along with their $187,000 annual salaries and their full-time drivers. Instead the board will include five members, only one, Commissioner John Rhea will be paid and two will be residents of housing projects. The New York Post noted that none of the other largest public housing agencies in the country have so many salaried members.

NYCHA also promised to commit all of the funds it’s sitting on to specific projects in the next 18 months, cut response repair time, upgrade security at the most dangerous developments, and seek federal funds to reduce energy consumption. As previously reported, Mayor Michael Bloomberg ignored warning signs of the agency’s vast inefficiencies.

NYCHA Elevator Mechanics

The embattled New York City Housing Authority has signed an agreement to update regularly the City Council on how it uses taxpayer funds, the New York Daily News reported.

After recent controversies over NYCHA’s management, including six-figure salaries for board members, failure to repair crumbling buildings and the revelation that the agency is sitting on nearly $1 billion of federal cash, City Council speaker Christine Quinn took the agency to task at a meeting in August, the News said, urging NYCHA Chairman John Rhea to keep the Council in the loop.

Yesterday, the agency signed on to provide a quarterly report listing every project it is working on, and stating whether it is on schedule, and whether or not it is over budget, the News said.

NYCHA Residents in Red Hook

U.S. Housing and Urban Development officials have opened an investigation into a $10 million report generated by the New York City Housing Authority, the New York Daily News reported. The NYCHA report was authored by the Boston Consulting Group, a business strategy advisor that previously employed embattled NYCHA chairman John Rhea.

The report, which is not available to the public, has generated concern at HUD over “the procurement procedures NYCHA followed in contracting with BCG,” Adam Glantz, a spokesman for HUD, told the News.

HUD officials have also demanded to see portions of the report and invoices for the work Boston Consulting did. The agency declined to comment on the state of the investigation, however.

Rhea has been praised for securing federal stimulus money for NYCHA in sums upward of $65 million a year, but has also been criticized for allegedly sparking an exodus of well-qualified officials. These officials left in the wake of troubles, such as last year’s botched payment of rent subsidies by NYCHA, which was blamed on computer glitches. [NYDN]

NYCHA Residents in Queensbridge

New York City Housing Authority Chairman John Rhea told state lawmakers that “every penny” of funds raised from the agency’s controversial plan to allow market-rate development on public housing land “will be used for capital improvements,” the Lo-Down reported.

Rhea was speaking to members of the New York State Assembly, including Linda Rosenthal, Keith Wright and Brian Kavanagh.

As previously reported, the agency aims to raise over $50 million annually by leasing public housing land to luxury developers, in an effort to raise funds for much-needed repairs.

During the meeting, Rhea sketched a timeline of the process, saying that requests for proposals will be released by the end of April and further details on the plan will go up on NYCHA’s website later this week.

“NYCHA is at risk,” Rhea said.

However, Assembly members criticized NYCHA for being uncommunicative about its plans. Not only has NYCHA failed to demonstrate sufficient “tenant engagement” for this plan, they said, but lawmakers and residents have also not received details on the proposal.

For his part, Rhea said that he has held public meetings at five of the eight affected developments — five of which are located on the Lower East Side. But Rosenthal, who represents Manhattan’s Upper West Side, said “collecting sign-in sheets does not mean there has been engagement.”

The Perfect Storm

New York City government created the Rapid Repairs program to organize the field of general contractors and subcontractors to assist homeowners light and heat their homes as winter approached. The brunt of Hurricane Sandy's destruction was beyond rapid repair. How can thousands buildings torn from their foundations, submerged under sea water, or burned to the ground be repaired rapidly? Meanwhile, tenants of New York City Housing Authority complained about years of delayed building repairs, maintenance and upgrades. New York City news organizations have discovered New York City is holding up hundreds of millions of dollars from the Federal Government designated for public housing, while charities are sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars donated by the public for Hurricane Sandy relief. Withholding funds has further depressed the construction industry that had expected to have benefits of natural economic stimulation that would spread across the entire economy.

Hurricane Sandy A Year Later

Hurricane Sandy was expected to create jobs for thousands of general contractors and construction laborers with the billions of dollars flowing in from the Federal Government.

Many New Yorkers believed help was on the way when the US Congress passed Hurricane Sandy relief legislation some 4 months after the storm hit. It was merely a prelude to further delays throughout the total government spectrum. Reports from local sources claim that nobody was doing anything and practically nothing had been done for the whole year. Readers may have been looking for progress reports from stricken areas in the press.

As the anniversary date approaches: no progress report means nothing to report. The New York news organizations reported on just about anything, but the plight of Hurricane Sandy survivors. The major stories of 2013: Gun Control, Immigration, Women in Combat, Keystone Pipeline, same-sex marriage, Boston Marathon Attacks, Bangladeshi Garment Factory Fire, NSA Surveillance Database, Egyptian Military Coup, Syrian Rebellion and Chemical Weapons, The Massacre in Kenya, solving the Baby Hope Murder, the US Government Shut Down, and the birth of Prince George.

New Yorkers were shocked when they opened the pages of the NY Daily News beginning last Friday and began reading that there is a controversy over the distribution of $575 million dollars Sandy Relief aid.

There are plenty of tales of woe throughout New York, New Jersey and New England. Since the storm, the Manuel family members have lived at a Queens school, a Bronx shelter, and a succession of hotels.

Manuel said they don’t know how long they will be allowed to stay in their current digs. And they still can’t afford to rent a place of their own.

“The travelling, just being in the hotel and not being able to cook, is tough,” she said. “We have to eat out every day. The little stuff that we have left we have to watch it all the time because I'm worried about the housekeepers stealing it. I always leave the 'Do Not Disturb’ sign up.”

There are more than 200 storm survivors like Manuel still lost in the city a year after Sandy. They are living in shelters, in rented rooms, in some cases with friends. Many families are still waiting for the Bloomberg administration to approve two-year housing vouchers to help them pay for rent. They are not deadbeats. They are people whose jobs, whose homes, whose lives were washed away by the storm.

“They just can't afford housing on the private market especially because the rents have gone up in the places they used to live,” said Attorney Goldiner of Legal Aid Society. “The city has completely abandoned them and seems to just want them to go away.”

Families in Distress

A Year Later

Hurricane Sandy Revisited

In Far Rockaway

Weather of Mass Destruction - The Dark Ages

New York City's Response

Damage Assessment

Property Tax Relief - Rapid Repairs

Rapid Repairs finished in March 2013

New York State

The state of New York plans to spend up to $400 million buying out and knocking down homes in Sandy-affected communities. For many struggling homeowners getting a buyout is the equivalent of winning the lottery. (Oct. 28)

State Buyout

Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Taskforce

December 7, 2012 - Executive Order Establishing the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force

This order establishes the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force (Task Force) to provide the coordination that is necessary to support these rebuilding objectives. In collaboration with the leadership provided through the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF), the Task Force will identify opportunities for achieving rebuilding success, consistent with the NDRF's commitment to support economic vitality, enhance public health and safety, protect and enhance natural and manmade infrastructure, and ensure appropriate accountability. The Task Force will work to ensure that the Federal Government continues to provide appropriate resources to support affected State, local, and tribal communities to improve the region's resilience, health, and prosperity by building for the future

Rebuilding by Executive Order

August 19,2013 - Rebuilding Strategy Press Release

Among the recommendations that will have the greatest impact on Federal funding is a process to prioritize all large-scale infrastructure projects and map the connections and interdependencies between them, as well as guidelines to ensure all of those projects are built to withstand the impacts of climate change. The Strategy also explores how to harden energy infrastructure to minimize power outages and fuel shortages – and ensure continuation of cellular service – in the event of future storms.

HUD Task Force

Chelsea Clinton Comes to the Rockaways

Clinton led hundreds of volunteers with the Clinton Foundation in a cleanup mission along Rockaway Beach. She also broke ground on a Sandy damaged home that will be rebuilt to better withstand future storms, thanks to a resiliency competition from the Clinton Global Initiative.

"We are so excited to be doing this," Clinton said in front of the single-family home, which will be complete in July. The winning design for the home — which was required to be both affordable and storm-resistant — could be used on other homes damaged by Sandy.

Chelsea Helps in Rockaways

Hundreds of New Yorkers still suffering from the impact of Superstorm Sandy gathered at City Hall Sunday night to rally for a more equal recovery effort that they say has forgotten many low-income and immigrant families.

Organized by the Alliance for a Just Rebuilding, community leaders and politicians spoke about the so-called “tale of two recoveries” to scores of people who marched in from across the city.

“Is it justice to rebuild in a way that doesn’t guarantee affordable housing for people that have been living in those communities for a long time?” asked Councilman Brad Lander of Brooklyn, adding that the recovery effort has left many people in the outer boroughs without enough help.

City-Wide Protest

Charities Withheld Funds

Four charities that had been under fire for sitting on millions of dollars of Hurricane Sandy relief funds have agreed to pony up $10 million to aid victims of the storm. The charities — including the American Red Cross and a fund created by New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees — reached an agreement with state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The deal came after revelations in July that 40% of the $575 million in Sandy aid collected by 90 charities had been disbursed within six months of the storm. “We have been dogged about making sure that when they raise money and tell the world they are going to spend it on Sandy recovery, they in fact spend it on Sandy recovery,” Schneiderman said during an appearance Thursday in hard-hit Long Beach, L.I.

July 17, 2013 - Attorney General Schneiderman on Hurricane Sandy Relief

During a press conference in the heart of the Breezy Point neighborhood devastated by fires started by Superstorm Sandy, Attorney General Schneiderman outlined the findings in his office's report on spending by charities in the wake of the storm, revealing that $238 million of the $575 million that was raised for relief efforts had not been spent as of April 2013. The Attorney General was joined by New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo, Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder, City Councilman Eric Ulrich, and Arthur Lighthall of the Breezy Point Cooperative.

So many Members have pointed out when we had the [Hurricane] Katrina damage, which was also a very broad-based natural disaster, we acted within ten or 11 days, [providing] $60 billion. We acted with alacrity. Here, for whatever reasons ... we're now some 60 plus days later and we haven't acted.

January 1, 2013 - Congress adjourned before passing Hurricane Sandy Relief Bill

Remembering September 11, 2001

September 2013 passes with solemn tributes and commemoration of the lives lost and collapse of the Twin Towers. Conversations I have had with several residents of New York revealed an appalling degree of public misinformation and unawareness about the events and the new discoveries that have surfaced since 2001.

There are hundreds of hours of research presentations available to the public on video for free viewing and downloading that explore the facts, witness interviews, technical commentary, academic and professional reviews. The scope and quality of these presentations are reflected in the material provided in the collection below.



The collapse of the WTC Twin Towers has become a topic of interest to an international community of physicists, architects and engineers who have evaluated the official reports produced by the US Government including the 9-11 Commission Report and raised challenges to its conclusion that the buildings collapsed due to the structural weakness caused by the fires following the airplanes crashing into them.



According to witnesses and national network coverage there were a series of explosions moments before the collapse of the WTC buildings that have the appearance of controlled demolitions.



The international community of academics and professionals explores 9-11 events.



Survivors of 9-11 remember events more deeply. They organized a popular response to participate in the government investigations.



The experts’ opinions on the WTC Collapse are nearly unanimous in finding flaws in official US government reports explaining the collapse of the buildings.



Academics assess the psychological impact of the terror attacks on the residents of New York City, New York State and the general US and World populations.



A broader international community of professionals and journalists walks through the evidence presented by the US Government on the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks. The soundness of the WTC design and construction is reviewed and evaluated.



Professor Neils Hartt from University of Copenhagen discusses the chemical analysis of the debris and dust samples collected from Ground Zero and surrounding area.



David Ray Griffin critiques the 9-11 Commission Report.



David Ray Griffin speaks on the 9-11 Terror Attacks. Prof. Griffin discusses how the attacks played a major role in world events and moving the emotions of the American people to unconditionally accept changes to their way of life.

David Ray Griffin speaks on the 9-11 Terror Attacks

International community of architects and engineers announce their conclusion after reviewing the evidence and related discussions. There is a new role for science and technology in the community. There are many things that technical professionals can speak to the public about for the common good.



Dr. Steven Jones, an American physicist, gives a presentation on the 9-11 Attacks. The expanded role of intellectuals in the public forum is for the greater good.



The NYC Department of Buildings ensures the safe and lawful use of over 975,000 buildings and properties by enforcing the City's Building Code, Electrical Code, Zoning Resolution, New York State Labor Law and New York State Multiple Dwelling Law. Their main activities include performing plan examinations, issuing construction permits, inspecting properties, and licensing trades. We also issue Certificates of Occupancy and Place of Assembly permits. In all their activities, their focus is on safety, service and integrity.

In New York City, building construction, demolition and asbestos abatement operations are primarily regulated by the Department of Buildings (DOB), the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Fire Department (FDNY). Depending on the nature of the work, building owners and contractors must receive permits from and be inspected by some combination of these three agencies.

In order to enhance the regulation, oversight, and safety of construction, demolition, and abatement activities, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg issued a comprehensive report on these activities, including 33 recommendations developed by the Construction, Demolition, and Abatement Working Group chaired by Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler and comprised of the FDNY, DEP, DOB, and the Law Department.

How controlled demolition works.

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The Verrazano Bridge Project

It’s been said that today capitalism isn’t as interested in making stuff as it is in making money. At a time when our economy is struggling to lower the unemployment rate, move forward and climb out of the hole the Republicans had been digging for the past 30 years, New York has taken a great leap backward.

When it opened in 1964, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was the world's longest suspension span. The ends of the bridge are at historic Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island, both of which guarded New York Harbor at the Narrows for over a century. The bridge was named after Giovanni da Verrazano, who, in 1524, was the first European explorer to sail into New York Harbor.

Its monumental 693 foot high towers are 1 5/8 inches farther apart at their tops than at their bases because the 4,260 foot distance between them made it necessary to compensate for the earth's curvature. Each tower weighs 27,000 tons and is held together with three million rivets and one million bolts. Seasonal contractions and expansions of the steel cables cause the double-decked roadway to be 12 feet lower in the summer than in the winter. Located at the mouth of upper New York Bay, the bridge not only connects Brooklyn with Staten Island but is also a major link in the interstate highway system, providing the shortest route between the middle Atlantic states and Long Island.

In Brooklyn, the bridge connects to the Belt Parkway and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and to the largely residential community of Bay Ridge. On Staten Island, which saw rapid development after the bridge opened in 1964, it joins the Staten Island Expressway, providing access to the many communities in this most rural of the city's five boroughs.

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge that connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City at the Narrows, the reach connecting the relatively protected upper bay with the larger lower bay.

The bridge is named for both the Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazano, the first known European navigator in the service of the King Francis I of France to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River, and for the body of water it spans: the Narrows. It has a central span of 4,260 feet (1,298 m) and was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1964, until it was surpassed by the Humber Bridge in the United Kingdom in 1981, a bridge connecting the (then) counties of North and South Humberside, now renamed North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire. It now has the tenth longest main span in the world, is still the longest bridge span in the Americas, and its massive towers can be seen throughout a good part of the New York metropolitan area, including from spots in all five boroughs of New York City and in New Jersey.

The bridge establishes a critical link in the local and regional highway system. Since 1976, it has been the starting point of the New York City Marathon. The bridge marks the gateway to New York Harbor; all cruise ships and most container ships arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey must pass underneath the bridge and therefore must be built to accommodate the clearance under the bridge. This is most notable in the case of the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary 2.

The agency says it could not find an American company capable of making the high-tech steel plates it wants, but critics say the decision came down to cheaper labor. Add Staten Island’s Verrazano Bridge to the list of U.S. icons that are made in China.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority outsourced a $235 million renovation project to China for work on the statuesque steel span — over the protests of hard-up American steelworkers who say they could do the job. “It’s a kick in the teeth. There’s a lot of New Yorkers who would be thrilled to work on this project. It should be American made,” United Steelworkers’ Vice President Tom Conway said. The union has reached out to New York’s AFL-CIO to mobilize support among other labor organizations, the Daily News has learned.

“Our state has lost nearly half its manufacturing capacity in the past 20 years,” AFL-CIO head Mario Cilento said in a letter sent July 1 to its executive council. Cilento wrote, asking members to “stand by” as they prepare to fight the MTA’s outsourced contract. According to the MTA, there’s not a steel plant in America that can produce the type of high-tech steel plate it wants — known as orthotropic design. “(The agency) worked diligently to find an American steel manufacturer with the capability, experience and desire to fabricate the steel bridge deck ... the MTA could not find an American fabricator,” the agency said in a statement defending its decision.

Orthotropic Design

Orthotropic design is rarely used in America because the bulk of U.S. bridges were built before the technology existed. The MTA hopes to extend the Verrazano’s lifespan by replacing its heavy concrete upper deck with lighter, stiffer orthotropic plates. Similar work was done two years ago on another U.S. span, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

First developed in the 1930s, the orthotropic steel deck (OSD) system for bridges continues to offer tremendous potential for building efficient and cost-effective modern structures with extended service life.

The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) new Manual for Design, Construction, and Maintenance of Orthotropic Steel Deck Bridges (Pub. No. FHWA-IF-12-027) presents a comprehensive guide to OSD technology based on worldwide practice and modern analytical techniques. Included are discussion of the many aspects of orthotropic bridge engineering, including analysis, design, detailing, fabrication, testing, inspection, evaluation, and repair. The manual supplements and updates the 1963 Design Manual for Orthotropic Steel Plate Deck Bridges published by the American Institute of Steel Construction. It is based on the recently issued Sixth Edition of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Bridge Design Specifications.

“Orthotropic steel decks provide a modular, prefabricated design solution that has proven effective in new construction where speed and extended service life are desired, and in rehabilitation of existing bridges where reducing weight is one of the primary goals,” said Myint Lwin, Director of FHWA’s Office of Bridge Technology. Originally developed in Germany, the OSD system generally consists of a flat, thin steel plate that is stiffened by a series of closely spaced longitudinal ribs and transverse floor beam, as noted in the manual, “the defining characteristic of the OSD bridge is that it results in a nearly all steel superstructure which has the potential (with minimal maintenance) to provide extended service life and standardized modular design, as compared to more conventional bridge construction.” Since most of the components are prefabricated and lightweight, OSD bridges can be built quickly. OSD construction also provides a smooth continuous riding surface that has minimal joints, preventing leakage and protecting the other bridge components. Another potential advantage is lower life-cycle costs.

The OSD system has been used in thousands of bridges worldwide, particularly in Europe, Asia, and South America. It has not been as widely employed in the United States to date, with an estimated 100 OSD bridges in service across the country. The system has most commonly been used in the United States for particular design conditions, such as for long-span structures where it is paramount to minimize dead load. One example of this design is the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington. Another use in the United States is for box girder bridges containing slender compressive plate elements that require stiffening, such as the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge in California. It has also been used for redecking of major bridges on urban arterials where rapid construction is vital, including the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge in New York City.

The Tacoma Narrows first developed in the 1930s, the orthotropic steel deck (OSD) system for bridges continues to offer tremendous potential for building efficient and cost-effective modern structures with extended service life.

Originally developed in Germany, the OSD system generally consists of a flat, thin steel plate that is stiffened by a series of closely spaced longitudinal ribs and transverse floor beam, as noted in the manual, “the defining characteristic of the OSD bridge is that it results in a nearly all steel superstructure which has the potential (with minimal maintenance) to provide extended service life and standardized modular design, as compared to more conventional bridge construction.” Since most of the components are prefabricated and lightweight, OSD bridges can be built quickly. OSD construction also provides a smooth continuous riding surface that has minimal joints, preventing leakage and protecting the other bridge components. Another potential advantage is lower life-cycle costs.

A German Engineer Dr. Cornelius of MAN Corporation was issued German patent No. 847014 in 1948. MAN's design manual was published in 1957 in German. In 1963 AISC published their manual based on North American design practices today called AASHTO. First used in Germany in the 1950s, orthotropic technology facilitated the cost-effective replacement of bridges destroyed during World War II. Today, Japan is home to the world's longest suspension, floating, and cable-stayed orthotropic deck bridges. In fact, major orthotropic viaducts in Tokyo are composed of more than 1,100 spans, and there are more than 250 orthotropic deck bridges of various sizes throughout the country.

Despite their popularity overseas, the percentage of orthotropic decks constructed in the United States remains low. But that may be about to change. Orthotropic structures have earned the trust of a few American bridge designers and owners who are pushing the technology forward. In fact, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and many other organizations recently sponsored the world's first conference in nearly 30 years focused exclusively on orthotropic deck bridges.

When first introduced in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, orthotropic decks represented a new and relatively unfamiliar technology for bridge designers. As a result of inadequate knowledge about the performance characteristics, particularly in regard to fatigue and traffic loading, early designers created bridges that were too light and tended to crack in the welds under repeated use by trucks. An experimental bridge built in the 1960s in Maryland, for example, only lasted a few years. The problem, according to Fisher, was that not enough experimentation had been carried out to define the details.

"Designers had bad experiences with early applications, using deck plates that were too thin," Fisher says. "In the United States, we were using thicknesses of 10 to 12 millimeters [0.39 to 0.47 inch], which is too thin to carry the wheel loads of heavy trucks. Many bridge decks failed, and that turned off owners." Over the years, however, research in this country and abroad has helped engineers develop a more substantial base of knowledge and data on the performance of orthotropic bridges. According to Benjamin Tang, with FHWA's Office of Bridge Technology, current research on bridge performance indicates that stiffer orthotropic decks with wider ribs, along with prototype testing, could result in good performance and long bridge life.

The Golden Gate Bridge now has an orthotropic deck. In the early 1980s, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge was in need of a tuneup. Completed in 1937, the landmark bridge spanning the bay between San Francisco and Marin County, CA, began to show signs of deterioration in its concrete deck. Salt fog had reached the rebar, causing corrosion and concrete spalling. Engineers at the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District made the decision to switch deck systems. In 1985, with assistance from construction engineers at the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Golden Gate Bridge was restored using steel deck panels. The project not only restored the bridge to prime condition but also used fewer materials and reduced the deck weight by 11,160 metric tons (12,300 tons).

The unsung hero in the retrofit is orthotropic technology. Engineers define an orthotropic deck as one that consists of steel plates supported by ribs underneath, overlain by an integrated wearing (driving) surface. An orthotropic deck is a collage of steel plates welded together with a flat, solid steel deck stiffened by a grid of deck ribs welded to framing members like floor beams and girders. By integrating the structural system and the driving surface, orthotropic deck bridges are more lightweight and efficient on long-span structures.

A staple feature in transportation networks in Europe and East Asia, these bridges also are valued for their seismic performance, maneuverability (as in movable bridges), and versatility for construction in cold weather.

Some very large cable-supported bridges, plus current record span (cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges) would not be feasible without steel orthotropic decks. The longest or record span box girder, slant-leg bridges; arch bridges; movable bridges and two Norwegian floating bridges. (The steel deck-plate-and-ribs system may be idealized for analytical purposes as an orthogonal-anisotropic plate, hence the abbreviated designation “orthotropic.”) Thousands of orthotropic deck bridges are in existence throughout the world. Despite the savings and advantages (up to 25% of total bridge mass can be saved by reducing deck weight, as the weight reductions extend to cables, towers, piers, anchorages, and so forth), the US has only about 60 such bridge decks in use as of late 2005. About 25% of USA Orthotropic Steel Deck Bridges are in California, including the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge box girder(1967) one of the first major bridges in the US to be built using an orthotropic deck.

Rebuilding Infrastructure

The MTA action is a strategic blunder. It is driving the fatal stake through the heart of what was a world leading steel industry. Economic treason is another word for it. Snowden did not profit from his activities, the MTA motivation for this is profit. The largest bridge in the United States should be built with steel produced in the United States for strategic reasons that seem to have escaped MTA, Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Cuomo, the New York/New Jersey Congressional delegations, and the President of the United States, Barack Obama. Indeed many bridges throughout the United States are parts of the infrastructure that needs repair. Would an intelligent administration promising to create jobs and revitalize the economy by rebuilding the infrastructure then allow a local transportation agency to give the contract for the nation's largest bridge to a foreign country?

New York Sen. Charles Schumer urged the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to avoid using steel from state-owned Chinese enterprises on future projects. Schumer was responding to criticism over the MTA's announcement that it would be using steel from Angang Steel (Ansteel) Group, a state-owned company in China, to make repairs along the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Angang Steel Company Limited or Ansteel is a joint-stock limited company parented by Anshan Iron and Steel Group, which is supervised by State Council of the People's Republic of China. It is the second largest steel maker in Mainland China.

Ansteel is engaged in producing and selling steel products as billets, cold rolled sheets, color coating plates, wire rods, thick plates and heavy rails. It was incorporated in 1997 when Anshan Iron and Steel injected its cold rolling, wire rod, and thick plate operations into Ansteel. Ansteel is headquartered in Anshan, Liaoning, China.

Schumer said China heavily subsidizes its steel industry, which makes Chinese steel artificially cheap and allows them to undercut American competitors by up to 25 percent. "While we are appreciative of the tight budget constraints that MTA is subject to on public works projects, we believe that supporting state-owned enterprises such as Ansteel is in direct conflict with the best interest of the U.S. economy and in the future MTA should exercise all power within their authority to avoid this outcome," Schumer wrote in a letter to MTA CEO and Chairman Thomas Prendergast.

The Democratic senator also wants the MTA to alter its bidding process and to provide advance notice on future projects so that American companies can better compete.

Built to Last

Annual losses from natural hazards have increased several fold 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 have been six manned U.S. moon landings (between 1969 and 1972) and numerous unmanned landings, though no soft landings have occurred since 1976. The United States' Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon, on 20 July 1969.

In 1976 the two American Viking probes entered orbit about Mars and each released a lander module that made a successful soft landing on the planet's surface. The two missions returned the first color pictures and extensive scientific information.

On August 14, 2012, NASA's rover Curiosity successfully carried out a highly challenging landing on Mars, transmitting images back to Earth after traveling hundreds of millions of miles through space to explore the red planet. "This is a stunning achievement. The engineering went flawlessly," said Scott Hubbard, who was the first Mars program director at NASA headquarters and is now a consulting professor at Stanford University. The 10 science instruments aboard Curiosity are in "perfect health," and testing and calibration are under way, NASA said.

Some rover team specialists analyzed the data from the landing, while others prepared Curiosity for exploring Gale Crater, where it landed, NASA said. On its first full day on Mars, the rover is tasked with raising its high-gain antenna, enabling it to communicate directly with Earth at higher data rates. The primary method of transmitting data is through the orbiters, because that is more energy-efficient.

President Barack Obama weighed in on the historic moment: "The successful landing of Curiosity -- the most sophisticated roving laboratory ever to land on another planet -- marks an unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future," Obama said in a statement congratulating the NASA employees who had worked on the $2.6 billion project.


Meanwhile, here on Earth  $100s of  billions are lost and populations of millions evacuate coastal regions due to hurricane seasons every year. America’s technological acumen could be guided toward developing a system of sea walls stretching from the northern tip of Maine to the southern-most shoreline extremities in Texas to save lives and protect property. This would be something of more tangible and practical value for all Americans.

Year after year Americans endure hurricane seasons that erase traces of an advanced civilization and momentarily hurl affected areas into the Middle Ages, Dark Ages or the Stone Age depending on the ferocity of the storm and the measures taken by the authorities to minimize casualties.

Oddly enough, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is responsible for emergency management and directs Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the United States of America and U.S. territories (including protectorates) from and responding to terrorist attacks, man-made accidents, and natural disasters.

The natural disasters are the ones to worry about. There’s hasn’t been a terrorist attack comparable to the smallest hurricane since record keeping on the weather began.

Hurricane Irene

On August 15, 2011, a tropical wave exited the west African coast, and emerged into the Atlantic, characterized by distinct low-level cyclonic rotation and deep tropical humidity.

By August 20, the National Hurricane Center noted that tropical cyclone formation was imminent as the wave neared the Lesser Antilles, and a reconnaissance aircraft confirmed the presence of a small surface circulation center just southwest of a burst of vigorous convection and unusually high sustained winds, indicating sufficient organization for the cyclone to be upgraded into Tropical Storm Irene at 23:00 UTC that day.

With Irene's projected path fixed over much of the United States East Coast, over 65 million people from the Carolinas to northern New England were estimated to be at risk. Due to the threat, state officials, as well as utilities, transportation facilities, ports, industries, oil refineries, and nuclear power plants, promptly prepared to activate emergency plans; residents in the areas stocked up on food supplies and worked to secure homes, vehicles and boats. States of emergency and hurricane warnings were declared for much of the East Coast, including North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Tropical-storm-force winds began to affect the Outer Banks hours before landfall, producing waves of 6–9 ft (1.8–2.7 m). In addition to the gales, Irene spawned several tornadoes early on August 27, while approaching the coast. No regular weather station or buoy, however, measured sustained hurricane-force winds from the storm, with the highest winds officially recorded at 67 mph (107 km/h) by a buoy near Cape Lookout. Precipitation totals from Irene in the region were particularly high, ranging between 10–14 inches (250–360 mm); Bunyan recorded a peak amount of approximately 14 inches (360 mm).


The large hurricane left extensive damage in its wake and produced tornadoes that damaged homes and overturned vehicles. Following the touch down of a potent tornado, at least four homes were demolished in Columbia, while up to three others sustained significant damage. The hurricane caused multiple flooded areas and uprooted trees along coastlines; in Nash County, a snatched tree limb struck and killed one person. Prior to the storm, a resident in Onslow County suffered a fatal heart attack while applying plywood to his house. Two people in Pitt and Sampson Counties were additionally killed by falling trees, as were two others in Goldsboro and Pitt County in traffic accidents. A man also drowned in the flooded Cape Fear River. In all, over 1,100 homes were destroyed. The estimated $71 million in damage did not include agricultural losses.



The Effects of Hurricane Irene in New York were the worst from a hurricane since Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Hurricane Irene formed from a tropical wave on August 21, 2011 in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. It moved west-northwestward, and within an environment of light wind shear and warm waters. Shortly before becoming a hurricane, Irene struck Puerto Rico as a tropical storm. Thereafter, it steadily strengthened to reach peak winds of 120 mph (195 km/h) on August 24. Irene then gradually weakened and made landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina with winds of 85 mph (140 km/h) on August 27. It slowly weakened over land and re-emerged into the Atlantic on the following day. Later on August 28, Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm and made two additional landfalls, one in New Jersey and another in New York. The storm quickly began to lose tropical characteristics and became extratropical in Vermont.

Irene produced heavy damage over much of New York, totaling to $296 million (2011 USD). The storm is ranked as one of the costliest in the history of New York, after Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Much of the damage occurred due to flooding, both from heavy rainfall in inland areas and storm surge in New York City and on Long Island. Tropical storm force winds left at least 3 million residents without electricity in New York and Connecticut. Ten fatalities are directly attributed to the hurricane.

As officials in North Carolina reportedly ordered more bodybags for locals refusing to leave what may be Hurricane Irene's first U.S. landfall zone, the menace has managed what nothing else has been able to do further north -- shut down the city that never sleeps.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg  announced the first ever mandatory evacuation of low-lying waterfront areas of the city. Those areas include parts of the financial district in Lower Manhattan, as well as sections along the Hudson and East rivers. The "danger" zone, which includes 250,000 people, was ordered emptied by 5 p.m. Saturday.  In fact, up and down the East Coast more than 2 million people were told to evacuate.

Mayor Bloomberg also ordered that the city's sprawling subway and bus system -- Gotham's lifeline -- be shut down from Saturday afternoon until Monday. Closing down the transit system will paralyze a city in which most people don't drive cars. A spokesperson for the MTA said that the entire subway system has only been shut down twice in recent memory, on Sept. 11, 2001, and during a strike in 2005.


After it became clear that the subway system would be shutdown, the Broadway League declared that all weekend Broadway performances would be cancelled, and the New York Mets canceled Major League Baseball games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.  Five New York hospitals began to evacuate and transfer patients.  Bloomberg warned New Yorkers to not be fooled because "the sun is shining." He said Irene is a "dangerous storm," and "it's heading basically directly for us." President Obama signed an emergency declaration for New York and urged people in the path of the storm to heed evacuation orders.

Are ordering annual evacuations during hurricane season the best response for the country that has plans for sending men to Mars? People don’t want to evacuate every year because of hurricane season. They also don’t relish cleaning up wreckage left in the aftermath. This is an opportunity for  regional planners, Department of Homeland Security,  architects,  engineers and general contractors to design and build structures that protect the eastern shore, Gulf Coast and central plains from losses of life and property every year due to severe storms.

The climate experts have said Hurricane Irene was a once in a hundred year event. Other experts estimate a Hurricane Irene could appear once in 30-years. This should send red flags up to city, state and regional planners everywhere. Who would want to rebuild in an area where Hurricane Sandy-like superstorms are predicted every hundred years, much less every thirty years? It’s like leaving your descendants a curse, a pile of rubble and possible violent deaths for an inheritance.

Should anyone be allowed to build beach front property that is guaranteed to be submerged by hurricane storm surge or rising sea levels before the next century unless infrastructure is upgraded to protect it?

 

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.

The Hurricane Effect

The NY Post reported on May 16, 2013 that hundreds of city Hurricane Sandy evacuees still in hotels won’t be put out on the street until they find permanent housing, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled yesterday. About 395 families are still living in hotels, and were set to lose those rooms after May 31.

A source familiar with the damaged areas left by Hurricane Sandy stated that hardly anything is being done of significant scale in restoration and reconstruction of ravaged public and private property.

  

In research by an international general contracting firm several years ago it was said:

Due to the devastating damage from Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina and Rita, there will be a significant amount of rebuilding in the Southern United States in the near future.  This widespread destruction of residential and commercial buildings opens an opportunity for structural mitigation against future-hazard events, and therefore, potentially reduces future damages.  In addition to the recent hurricanes, the 2004 hurricane season and the Indian Ocean Tsunami have led to shortages of many essential building materials.  Due to the shortages, construction costs will be rising, both for in-kind replacement and alternative coastal construction. 

Hurricane Dennis

The effects of Hurricane Dennis in Florida included 14 deaths and $1.5 billion (2005 US$) in damage. The tropical wave that became Hurricane Dennis formed on June 29, 2005, and proceeded westward across the Atlantic Ocean. It became a tropical depression on July 4, a tropical storm on July 5, and a hurricane on July 7. Dennis rapidly intensified to attain Category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, and made landfall in Cuba where it weakened to Category 1 status, before re-emerging in the Gulf of Mexico and re–intensifying. The storm made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on Santa Rosa Island on July 10.

As Dennis was impacting Cuba, the outer rainbands affected the Florida Keys causing moderate wind gusts peaking at 87 mph (140 km/h) on Sombrero Key. In central Florida, Dennis produced numerous tornadoes, one severely damaging a house. In Punta Gorda, three people were found dead in a car submerged in a ditch flooded by heavy rain. Dennis made landfall in the Florida Panhandle, causing moderate damage, although not as severe as previously predicted. Wind gusts peaked at 121 mph (195 km/h), and maximum rainfall reached 7.08 inches (180 mm). Storm surge of --15 ft (-0.91 m) inundated parts of St. Marks and nearby locations. During the height of the storm, approximately 236,000 customers in the Florida Panhandle were without electric power.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest and most destructive Atlantic hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall. At least 1,833 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane; total property damage was estimated at $81 billion (2005 USD), nearly triple the damage brought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005 and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some deaths and flooding there before strengthening rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane over the warm Gulf water, but weakened before making its second landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on the morning of Monday, August 29 in southeast Louisiana. It caused severe destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas, much of it due to the storm surge. The most significant number of deaths occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, which flooded as the levee system catastrophically failed, in many cases hours after the storm had moved inland. Eventually 80% of the city and large tracts of neighboring parishes became flooded, and the floodwaters lingered for weeks. However, the worst property damage occurred in coastal areas, such as all Mississippi beachfront towns, which were flooded over 90% in hours, as boats and casino barges rammed buildings, pushing cars and houses inland, with waters reaching 6–12 miles (10–19 km) from the beach.

The hurricane surge protection failures in New Orleans are considered the worst civil engineering disaster in U.S. history and prompted a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the designers and builders of the levee system as mandated by the Flood Control Act of 1965. Responsibility for the failures and flooding was laid squarely on the Army Corps in January 2008 by Judge Stanwood Duval, U.S. District Court, but the federal agency could not be held financially liable due to sovereign immunity in the Flood Control Act of 1928. There was also an investigation of the responses from federal, state and local governments, resulting in the resignation of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael D. Brown, and of New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) Superintendent Eddie Compass.

 

Hurricane Rita

Hurricane Rita was the fourth–most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico. The eighteenth named storm, tenth hurricane, and fifth major hurricane of the 2005 season, Rita formed near The Bahamas from a tropical wave on September 18 that originally developed off the coast of West Africa. It moved westward, and after passing through the Florida Straits, Rita entered an environment of abnormally warm waters. It rapidly intensified to reach peak winds of 180 mph (285 km/h) on September 20. After steadily weakening and beginning to curve to the northwest, Rita gradually weakened and made landfall on Sabine Pass, Texas with winds of 120 mph (195 km/h) on September 24. It weakened over land and degenerated into a large low-pressure area over the lower Mississippi Valley on September 26.

In Louisiana, the storm surge from Rita inundated low-lying communities near the coast, worsening effects caused by Hurricane Katrina less than a month prior. The surge topped levees, allowing water to surge further inland. Lake Charles suffered from severe flooding. Areas in Texas suffered from extensive wind damage. Nine counties in the state were declared disaster areas after the storm. Electric service was disrupted in some areas of both Texas and Louisiana for several weeks. Texas reported the most deaths from the hurricane, where 113 deaths were reported.

Moderate to severe damage was reported across the lower Mississippi Valley. Rainfall from the storm and its associated remnants extended from Louisiana to Michigan. Rainfall peaked at 16.00 in (406 mm) in Central Louisiana. Several tornadoes were also associated with the hurricane and its subsequent remnants. Throughout the path of Rita, damage totaled about $12 billion (2005 USD, $15 billion 2013 USD). As many as 120 deaths in four U.S. states were directly related to the hurricane.

Clearly hurricanes are storms of such enormous dimensions affecting regions across state and national boundaries that although the federal government is uniquely resourced to initiate relief to these areas affected, it seems nowhere is there expertise in the public or private sectors to implement and manage a program that automatically encompasses the logistics, materials, labor and costs for services providing disaster recovery, emergency relief through reconstruction and restoration across the different jurisdictions.

 The international general contracting firm concludes:

Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina and Rita passed over the Southern United States in August and September of 2005.  Although these storms weakened in the hours before they made landfall (Katrina and Rita from a Category 5), major beach erosion, storm-surge flooding, over wash, torrential rains and high-wind damages occurred along a stretch of shoreline extending from the

Florida panhandle to the Texas coastline, a distance of some 800 miles.   The damages from Katrina were considered the worst in US History, eclipsing all other disasters in American history by more than an order of magnitude.  Media sources have reported that private insurance estimates were varying from $100 to $200 billion.  Devastating storm surge from 10 to 30 feet above normal tide level washed over southern coastal areas and inundated coastlines, including the central business districts of Biloxi, MS and Gulfport, MS.  High-water levels of nearly 30 feet were measured locally in Biloxi Bay.  About fifty percent (50%) of the housing stock in the coastal counties sustained major damage or was destroyed.  Eighteen-thousand wooden power poles were wrecked by winds and downed trees in New Orleans alone, about one hundred thousand collectively from Texas to Florida.

 

Obviously, hurricanes are known to cause damage due to high wind and high-velocity water.  However, areas such as Mobile, AL, Biloxi, MS and New Orleans, LA will likely have a large number of homes destroyed by slow flooding.  Unlike the high winds and fast-moving waters, the slow floods did not rip off roofing, destroy walls or cause immediate structural damages.  However, many homes will be permanently uninhabitable because the water carried contaminants that that cannot be removed easily from wooden structures.  Long-term submersion in fresh water will make most structures un-repairable.  This is a likely scenario for a large share of the two-hundred thousand homes in the Crescent City, New Orleans.  In Mississippi, reports indicate that more than eighty percent (80%) of the estimated one-hundred seventy-one thousand homes on the coast were heavily damaged or destroyed completely.

Many parts of the country have dealt with frequent hurricanes.  After major events such as Hurricanes Andrew, Camille, Charley, Frances, Hugo, Ivan, some areas were able to enact more-stringent building-code standards.  In an ideal world, at the minimum, hurricane standards should be based on the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 7-1998 standards.  Still, realistically, building codes are often the minimum standards that are the maximum politically feasible.  They may fall short of standards like those of the ASCE.  However, this is a substantial improvement over having no codes.

 

One example of improved building code is when homeowners may be required to meet the increased wind standards by using impact-resistant doors and windows that use laminated glass similar to that found in car windshields.  This type of building code improvement can be also achieved by persuading contractors and homeowners to build structures to these higher hurricane standards or by getting local officials to adopt part or all of the higher-performance standards.  Building codes may not and do not restrict people from building stronger.

 

 

 

The CT/NY/NJ tri-State area has the same exposure to hurricane forces as the Gulf Coast. The population has even higher degree of exposure because Mid-Atlantic and New England have a higher total population, aggregate property values and a colder climate.  Further studies on the best land use of the shoreline might determine its suitability for habitation in terms of cost, safety, and sustainability.