Floods In New York City Essay

Natural disasters are considered harmful in terms of coastal management and can often cause years of work to be wiped out. It can take large amounts of sand from the beach and remove plant life. Collaroy Beach has been a victim of such natural disasters. A large storm back in 1945 caused Collaroy Beach to empty out a large percentage of its sand and damaged many structures. Collaroy Beach’s local council, Warringah Council, has taken action to prevent storm damage in the future. A revetment wall has been established on the sand dunes so waves do not cause as much damage to the dunes behind. Warringah has also purchased properties that were residential and cleared them, so that a storm will not damage as many structures.

Brighton, Glenelg, The West Beach Boat Ramp, Semaphore and Largs North Beach have all been influenced by hard engineering techniques. As an example, Glenelg was one of the few beaches that had some form of a breakwater along the coast. Breakwaters are notorious for having immediate impacts on the beach, but are ultimately useful in protecting the land that meets the beach. The real question is; “Do the benefits, outweigh the negatives?”. Breakwaters are

Newhaven is well known for having a harbour arm built in 1890 and is 700m wide. The harbour stops any sediment from moving further and protects river Estuary from any longshore drift damage. The harbour also allows boats to preserve their acess to the river Ouse. Longshore drift occurs when waves approach the coastline at an angle of 45°. The sediment is then carried up the beach (Swash) at the same angle. The wave then moves back down (Backwash) at 90°. This results in a zigzag motion along the beach which transports and deposits sediment along the coastline. The formation of the cliff depends on erosion or weathering, the three main types of marine erosion include abrasion, attrition and hydraulic action. The two significant types of weathering in coastal areas are corrosion and wetting/drying. As a result of longshore drift, the sediments and shingle is transported from the sea and tends to be depostited on the oppersite side of the harbour arm. The beach is used mainly by locals of pleasure and lesuire. predict that the cliff will be

This is not just an architectural design and the fashion, but because of the fact that the developers know that the land is being swallowed by the sea. More and more houses, hotels, shops and restaurants have decks and some piers that lead into and over the water. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection even has courses for those in construction to acknowledge the erosion and increase the proper design, construction and maintenance of erosion and sediment control. The beaches, whether sandy or rocky are the buffers that keep the sea at bay from the land behind enemy lines. They are nature’s way of saving all the people and their livelihoods from being swept away into the deep blue yonder. When waves crash into the beach it carries sediment with it and deposits such sediment. The alternative is that when a wave recedes back into the ocean it carries that sediment back to sea. This is usually done at an unequal rate, and leads to coastal erosion. In fact, coastal erosion is one of the reasons we have so many beautiful beaches around the world due to their unique shape. Long shore currents move water in a parallel direction of the shoreline, carrying the sand with it. But as we continue to build piers, docks, sea walls, and jetties

walls. Rip rap walls are when larged rocks are piled in a certain angle to catch drifting sand and protect the beaches from harsher waves and to protect buildings from high

Wave cut platforms are another feature of an erosional coastline. Along coastlines with cliff edges that sit about the shore these features are apparent they look like gently sloping areas of landnear the shore just above sea level. (Chambers, 2007) These benches and marine terraces are the product of wave action eroding the rock at the base of the cliff until the cliff cannot support itself on its new foundation and crumbles into the sea. Over time the collapsed land will have much of the smaller debris eroded away and much of the remaining rock or earth will be somewhat smoothed over to create a gentle slope to the water. (Chambers, 2007)

1. The reasons why some buildings are in the floodplains is because of agricultural industry. Another reason is population growth and expansion into those areas where people felt safe because of improvements of levees. Even though people were told about the dangers most people relied on disaster insurance instead of flood insurance. There should be laws that prohibit further development of these areas because it is costing the taxpayers lots of money for people that want to live in these areas that know the risks. If there were laws in place they could use some of the land as soccer fields and football fields as overflow ponds if they do want to build in a floodplain they need to raise the ground up by hauling in soils that will let the water pass through into those overfill ponds.

Instead of sustaining marshes, it adds on to the problem. From page 36, it states, “They direct river water straight into the Gulf of Mexico, where it no longer deposits sediment along the coast.” Levees have the capability to stop the sediment, and that’s a huge detriment to the marshes. Therefore, levees can’t support the marshes that well and keep the sea level rise.

The most significant implementations that were put into effect to protect the city of New Orleans were the levee and floodwall systems. Floodwalls are just as they appear to be. They are vertical walls that serve as barriers, in this case surrounding the city of New Orleans that is vulnerably sinking below sea level, in attempt to contain a river or waterway and prevent water from flooding the city. These floodwalls created a “fishbowl” effect, “with the water on the outside and half a million homes on the inside” (Flynn et al). However, the walls

Reports revealed that by 2080s, the projected flood heights for locations in Connecticut (e.g., Norwalk, Westport, Bridgeport, Greenwich Cove, Shippan Point, Stamford, and Stratford) could range from 11.5 to 13 feet for a Category 1 hurricane, and 14.5 to 15.7 feet for a Category 3 storm (Gornitz et al., 2004). Therefore, rising sea level could account for 18-22% of the increase in flood height (in the high sea-level rise scenario) or 6-8% in the lower case (Gornitz et al., 2004). With the rising sea level, floods generated by storms of this magnitude could approach 18 feet by the 2080s (Gornitz et al., 2004). The increase in the projected flood level cities in Connecticut will be greatly affected such as Bridgeport and New Haven. As an illustration, a significant portion of both Bridgeport and New Haven lies within the high-risk flood zone, and during severe storms this place a large population, private property, and infrastructure at high risk. In New Haven, some infrastructures that are at risk include the New Haven railroad station and track yards, the Tweed-New Haven Airport, ramps to the Connecticut

The changes to the coastline have affected the sustainability of the region. The loss of wetlands and other natural barriers have eliminated protection from higher and faster moving storm surges. New Orleans and other regions of the Louisiana deltaic plane could not be protected without proper account of the tremendous change that occurred to Louisiana's coastal landscape (IPET).

Later, in 2001, with the help and support of Teignbridge District Council and Teignmouth Town Council, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Flood defense Grant in Aid had added new flood gates (fig.1) to the new defense systems (BBC News,

Other programs focuses on the protection, through residential and non residential areas. One program in particular focuses on elevating houses that will use a graduated funding formula based on three categories of elevation-related risk from low, medium and high.58 This is to guarantee the safety of the home owners. Adding protection on the Monticello Canal walls would provide protection for future flooding.59 By covering the canal and using it as a roadway would alleviate daily traffic congestion and since it connects to River Road, it will also be used for an evacuation route that they had lacked pre-Katrina.

Some amount of natural erosion is necessary to provide the sediment for beaches in estuaries and coastal bays. However, excessive erosion has occurred in the past due to development. Industrial and private development along the world’s coastlines has increased dramatically since the 1970s (Nepf). Developers and builders completed much of this construction without taking into account the effects of coastal erosion. New buildings were often placed too close to the existing shoreline so that

“Since many reactors (operational and planned) are located along coastal areas for cooling convenience, effective protection against flooding will be crucial.”