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10 years after Sandy, NYC preps for future storms

Posted on October 31, 2022

10 years after Sandy, NYC preps for future storms

Story No.: apus158819

Restrictions:

Duration:00:03:14:10

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dateline: 4 November 2012 – 19 October 2022 – New York

Date: 10/25/2022 04:01 AM

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York – 18 October 2022

ANNOTATION: 10 years after Sandy, NYC preps for future storms

1. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors spreading sand on the beach that has just been pumped in from offshore

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York – 4 November 2012

2. Wide of damaged street and buildings following superstorm Sandy in the New York borough of Queens

3. Mid of cars pushed into each other and under broken boardwalk

ANNOTATION: A decade ago, Superstorm Sandy’s floodwaters surged over New York City’s Rockaway Peninsula, a far-flung neighborhood by the sea.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York – 18 October 2022

4. Various of beach replenishment project

ANNOTATION: To help prevent it from happening again during a future storm, contractors for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are building the beach out to a width of 250 feet and hope the sand will stay put for several years.

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Oseback, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New York District Project Manager

“So today we have a dredging operation with beach replenishment, replacing sand along the Rockaway shoreline between Beach Ninth Street and Beach 149th Street. Approximately two and a half million cubic yards of sand will be placed along the shoreline. And it’s all coming from the offshore borrow area.”

6.  A ship, the cutter suction dredge Illinois and platform, and buoys marking where the submerged metal pipe is located, pan to where the pipe comes onto the beach

7. Various of beach replenishment, also called beach nourishment, project

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Oseback, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New York District Project Manager

“The sand is hydraulically placed with the dredge Illinois. That’s a cutter suction dredge. It’s a 30 inch cutter suction dredge. It’s a powerful piece of equipment. And submerged pipeline helps transport that material from the borrow area to the dredge and to the beach.”

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Oseback, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New York District Project Manager

“This right now is part of our Contract 2, part of our Sandy resiliency contract. And we’ll be doing this for the next few months.”

10. Recently constructed groin, also called a jetty, goes from beach into ocean

11. Various of workers driving reinforced steel sheet pilings into the ground at the beach. They will be covered with sand to create more durable dunes.

12. Aerial view of sand pipe along beach

13. Sand rattles as it is pumped from the ocean floor through a pipe onto the beach

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Oseback, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New York District Project Manager

“Total cost for contracts one and two was approximately $350 million dollars. Contract one, which is our groin construction, was awarded for approximately $115 million. Contract two, which is to reinforced dune, beach replenishment and also the beach access points was awarded for approximately $225 million. That covers the entire Rockaways from Beach 9th Street to Beach 149th Street, which is approximately seven miles.”

15. GoPro shot shows ocean water coming ashore where the submerged sand pipe emerges

ANNOTATION: Some people think Congress should instead spend the money incentivizing people to move away from ocean shores with a history of flooding.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Woods Hole, Massachusetts – 19 October 2022

16. SOUNDBITE (English) S. Jeffress Williams, U.S. Geological Survey, Senior Scientist Emeritus

“It’s a temporary, it’s a Band-Aid on a problem. I mean, we we have a serious climate change problem. Where we’re going to get it, and are getting, more intense storms. We are getting, and it’s going to get much worse, accelerated sea level rise. And beach nourishment you know that sand is easily moved. And when you you’ve been to the coast after Sandy or even a typical nor’easter, you can see the changes to the beach that the waves and tidal occurrence will cause.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York – 18 October 2022

17. Various of beach replenishment

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Woods Hole, Massachusetts – 19 October 2022

18. SOUNDBITE (English) S. Jeffress Williams, U.S. Geological Survey, Senior Scientist Emeritus

“We really need to be thinking about moving away from the shoreline. Nobody wants to hear that. And as far as as long as we have the Corps willing to put hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer public money into beach nourishment, and FEMA has a flood insurance program that repays people when their houses are damaged during storms you know, there’s not a whole lot of incentive for people to move away.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York – 18 October 2022

19. Pan from ocean and dune construction to new housing

20. Bulldozer and ocean

Storyline

A decade ago, Superstorm Sandy’s floodwaters surged over New York City’s Rockaway Peninsula, a far-flung neighborhood by the sea.

To help prevent it from happening again during a future storm, contractors for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are now putting two and a half million cubic yards of sand on the beach and building dunes around reinforced steel sheet pilings.

After years of delays, the months-long project is underway on the beach. A large ship accompanied by a cutter suction dredge platform, visible from the beach a couple of miles offshore, uses hydraulics to pump sand from the ocean floor 50 feet below and push it through a series of partly submerged sectional metal pipes onto the beach.

The sand comes ashore mixed with water. Bulldozers create paths for the water to return to the ocean. The remaining sand is spread out to create a 250-foot wide sandy beach along the seven-and-a-half-mile-long beach.

Michael Oseback, overseeing the project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is optimistic the beach will not need to be replenished again for four or five more years. But a big storm like Sandy or even some strong Nor’easters could wash the sand back out to sea.

“A project like this is designed to protect the critical structures,” said Oseback. “Homes, small businesses, the boardwalk for recreation.”

The beach replenishment, often called beach nourishment, started in the Rockaway Peninsula with the construction of several so-called groins or jetties – piles of boulders that extend into the ocean from the beach and slow sand from migrating to the sea. All together, the sand and dune replenishment project is costing taxpayers 350 million dollars, using recovery money allocated by the U.S. Congress after Sandy hit the coastline of the northeastern U.S. on Oct. 29, 2012.

Many people think Congress should instead spend the money incentivizing people to move away from ocean shores with a history of flooding.

According to S. Jeffress Williams, U.S. Geological Survey, Senior Scientist Emeritus, reconstructing sand on beaches “is a Band-Aid on a problem” due to rising sea levels. “We really need to be thinking about moving away from the shoreline. Nobody wants to hear that. And as long as we have the Corps willing to put hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer public money into beach nourishment, and FEMA has a flood insurance program that repays people when their houses are damaged during storms, you know, there’s not a whole lot of incentive for people to move away.”

Additionally, geologists say the type of high-quality coarse, granular sand needed for beach replenishment and construction projects worldwide is a natural commodity that is being used up.

Earlier this year, the United Nations labeled sand a “strategic resource,” calling it one of the world’s most exploited resources. With 50 billion tons of sand and gravel being used each year, primarily for cement construction projects in fast-growing regions of the world like Singapore.

AP video shot by Ted Shaffrey

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