![]() ![]() Another strategy that is being incorporated into buildings across New York state is wet floodproofing, an approach that allows floodwater to enter a structure without causing damage. Raising the first floor of a building isn’t the only way to protect it from high water. One of their recommendations – elevating buildings above the base flood elevation – has been incorporated into the New York City Climate Resiliency Design Guidelines. This can reduce the negative impacts of climate-related hazards like hurricanes, flooding and heat waves.įor example, after Hurricane Sandy the Federal Emergency Management Agency sent a team to New York and New Jersey to evaluate building damage and recommend changes to engineering codes and standards to minimize future damage. In our opinion, architects and engineers will need to reevaluate their standard practices for designing, constructing and operating buildings. But trends in the data show that this is not the case. The majority of building-related professionals assumed that future weather conditions would resemble the past. We interviewed more than 40 architects, engineers, planners and government officials in the northeastern United States to understand how they were preparing. These rural zones may lack the human and financial resources to prepare for or to recover from storms.įlood control around the Great Lakes is complicated because lowering water levels in one part of the system raises them elsewhere. Our most important finding was that climate-related disasters disproportionately hurt regions that lacked large cities, such as the Adirondacks and New York state’s Southern Tier across its border with Pennsylvania. However, research shows that these hazards could have serious financial implications for the built environment in a climate-altered future. It was difficult to assess their economic impacts due to a lack of reliable data. We also examined other climate-related hazards like pest infestations, extreme heat, sea level rise and wildfires. Winter storms were the most economically significant hazard event in the regions surrounding Lakes Ontario and Erie, causing the highest per-event property damage in places like Rochester and Buffalo. ![]() Our data also showed that severe storms were the most frequent event, but accounted for only 16.8% of total damage statewide. Floods also caused the highest per-event property damage and a higher-than-expected share of damage costs. In addition, from 1960 through 2014, every county in New York suffered at least one flood that caused damage to buildings. A large portion of that total was attributable to Hurricane Sandy.įlooding ranked second in total damage. ![]() Hurricanes were the costliest events to hit New York state in the past half-century, accounting for $25.7 billion in damage from 1960 through 2014. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan Top threats: Hurricanes and flooding A storm-related fire destroyed more than 100 homes in Breezy Point, Queens. Hurricane Sandy cost New York nearly $11 billion in damage in 2012. Encouragingly, we found that Americans can protect themselves from extreme weather and reduce buildings’ contribution to climate change at the same time. We recently completed a multi-year study outlining how climate change is affecting New York State’s building sector and potential strategies to adapt buildings to a changing climate. To this end, our lab focuses on the intersection of energy efficiency, renewable energy and adaptation to climate change. Organizations like Architecture 2030, a professional alliance that promotes sustainable design, point out that buildings contribute nearly 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and are an important target for carbon reduction programs. building stock may not be prepared for future climate-related storms and flooding.Īnother challenge is that buildings consume a lot of energy, which accelerates climate change. At the University at Buffalo, I lead a laboratory that studies climate change and buildings. And severe storms in the Susquehanna River watershed in 2018 caused more than $1 billion in damage.Īs Earth’s climate changes, the frequency, intensity and duration of these extreme weather events is expected to increase. Three years later, historic flooding along Lake Ontario inundated numerous homes and businesses. In 2014, a storm dubbed “ Snowvember” dropped more than seven feet of snow in western New York. Hurricane Sandy slammed into New York City in 2012, inflicting nearly US$11 billion in damage to buildings. In the past seven years, four major disasters have caused serious disruptions in the Northeast and Midwest United States. ![]()
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