FURTHER STUDIES OF HURRICANE VULNERABILITY ON THE SOUTH SHORE OF STATEN ISLAND, NY

On August 28, 2011 Hurricane Irene dumped an average of 131.6 mm of rain on Staten Island with very little storm surge. On October 29 - 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy inundated the coastal areas of Staten Island with a 4.27 m storm surge with very little rain. If both of these events occurred at the same time, the resulting storm surge would inundate coastal regions of southeastern Staten Island at the same time that rainfall runoff would increase the flood levels in this area. The 1902 USGS topographic map of Staten Island shows very little urbanization in these coastal wetland areas which were below sea level even in 1902 when sea level was 0.3 m lower than today. Subsequently, these hurricane prone areas became urbanized over the last 113 years. Most of this area now sits in a “bowl”. There are two problems that must be solved. The first is to keep the storm surge out and the second is to allow for drainage from the higher elevation areas. The NYC DEP recently developed the Mid-Island Bluebelt for storm water management and recently, the United States Army Corps of Engineers issued the South Shore of Staten Island Coastal Storm Risk Management Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Their “goal is to manage the risk of damage from hurricane storm surge flooding and to manage the risk to local residents’ life and safety” (USACE, 2015). Total project cost is $578.9 million. The Geological Society of America’s position statement on managing coastal hazards urges scientists and policy makers to collaborate toward integrating geoscience information into policy and management actions in order to reduce the nation’s future vulnerability to these hazards. Planners and policy makers need to plan for storms which could potentially include storm surges, rainfall and winds all occurring simultaneously and in excess of either Irene or Sandy magnitudes.