(Pix: VERRAZANO NARROWS: Under one proposal, the mile-wide channel would be the site of a raisable storm-surge barrier that would rival the Netherlands’ ‘eighth wonder of the world,’ which keeps North Sea storm surges at bay.)
With the sea levels rising, it has been predicted that full-blown hurricanes may arrive at New York City with increasing regularity.
By 2050, stronger storms and rising sea levels may make the flood — that previously hit once every 100 years — once-in-20-years event! NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies informed.
By 2100, the sea level may raise a possible height of three-foot! Thus, will lead to flooding every four years!
The solution?
Douglas Hill and Malcolm Bowman of Stony Brook University have proposed massive storm-surge barriers as the best solution to this, rather than individually shoring up the city’s many vulnerable areas to protect the New York City.
Both the engineers believe the use of the region’s topography as a better solution. If three barriers are placed at strategic ‘choke points’ — the Verrazano Narrows, Throgs Neck, and the Arthur Kill – all of Manhattan can be protected including half the entire flood-prone area.
The project is being advised by the New York Sea Grant Program’s Jay Tanski.
Photo Courtesy: The Christian Science Monitor by STAN HONDA/AFP/GETTY
