Mayor Bloomberg Unveils $20 Billion Storm Plan

At the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Tuesday, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a $20 billion plan designed to protect the city against future storms like Superstorm/ Hurricane Sandy.

The mayor's 430 page report  contains more than 250 recommendations, many involving Brooklyn.


(The mayor's presentation starts around minute 7 in the video above.)

Proposals include offshore dunes, beach widening, tidal barriers, wetlands, elevated homes, new high-level sewers, strengthening building codes and more.

The plan includes 37 coastal defense projects, including restoring natural wetlands to lessen waves on the South Shore of Staten Island, and throughout Jamaica Bay.

* One storm surge barrier would be at Newtown Creek (between Brooklyn and Queens), where the storm surge pushed floodwaters into the surrounding neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Long Island City.

* A tidal barrier across Coney Island Creek is also proposed, and the city could build new parkland across the barrier itself, connecting two existing local parks.

* A surge barrier at the mouth of Jamaica Bay could help protect the communities of Gerritsen Beach, Howard Beach, Broad Channel, Canarsie and Mill Basin.

* In Breezy Point, the city is proposing a new double-dune system that would offer two layers of defense, a strategy that could eventually be rolled out across the Rockaways.

* In places like Red Hook, Chinatown, the Lower East Side, East Harlem, Hunts Point, and in front of Bellevue Hospital and along Hospital Row, and possibly down to the Battery, a system of floodwalls, levees and other features would provide a defense against flooding.

The plan also calls for strengthening other areas of weakness like utilities, fuel and food supply, healthcare, transportation, and telecommunications.

The plan can't be completed during Bloomberg's term but it seems like a good start.

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