SANDY’S
DEVASTATION
ing in such a vulnerable area.
The Arverne neighborhood, like
the rest of the Rockaways, is a
known flood zone. The two previous hurricanes caused major damage to the area. The surge from
the first, in 1893, was so powerful that it obliterated an island
off the coast of the Rockaways
–- the only known incident of a
hurricane wiping an island off the
map, according to Nicholas Coch,
a coastal geology professor at
Queens College.
Neither the developers nor the
city responded to a request for
comment about the project, but
an environmental impact study
conducted prior to construction
gave the project a green light,
noting that the complex was
built one foot above the 100-year
floodplain “as a requirement to
provide for the safety of residents and tenants.”
It’s not clear what qualifies as
a “100-year storm,” but Sandy
wasn’t even hurricane strength
when it came ashore. Nevertheless, the complex flooded with
several feet of water.
Coch said he didn’t want to
single out any one development
for criticism, but said it is impossible to reconcile new coastal de-
HUFFINGTON
12.02.12
velopment throughout the region
with what scientists know about
the changing climate. “People
love a view of the ocean but don’t
understand what every geologist
knows,” he said. “Sea levels are
rising. Storms are becoming more
fierce and unpredictable.”
Possibly even more irresponsible, he said, is that no one — the
city, the state or federal authorities — have made what he thinks
are obvious fixes to protect the
peninsula as best as possible from
storm surges.
“I see suicide,” Coch said, when
asked to describe the Rockaway
peninsula today. “I see very weak
protections. The seawalls are
cracked and ready to fall over. The
roads are open at the beach end,
allowing water to rush down the
street. I see an almost total lack of
flood protection.”
This summer, New York City
allocated $3 million to rebuild a
section of beach in the Rockaways
with sand dredged by the Army
Corps of Engineers, but the project was delayed until next year. A
federal study on solutions to the
area’s beach erosion was started
in 2003 and never finished due to
a lack of funding.
“Sand would have helped prevent the massive surge,” said John
Cori, a Rockaways activist who
started a campaign to rebuild lo-