Against the Deluge: Storm Surge Barriers to Protect New York City

On March 30 and 31, 2009, the Metropolitan Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers in conjunction with the Environmental Sciences Section of the New York Academy of Sciences will host a two-day conference to evaluate the concept of storm surge barriers to protect the New York metropolitan region from severe coastal flooding. The first day's session will address the questions: Should barriers be built in NYC? If so, when? The second day: Can barriers be built for NYC? If so, how?

What are the lessons of Katrina for New York City? Is the region at risk from a major hurricane? What parts of the city are particularly vulnerable to coastal flooding? To what extent can the region be protected by storm surge barriers? What can we learn from the experience with such barriers in New England and Europe? What would be the impediments to building storm surge barriers? What effect would they have on the estuarine environment? Can they be built? What would they look like? What would they cost? When could – and should – they be in place?

Presentations from experts in academia and the engineering community will address these questions. At each day's conclusion, a panel of experts will evaluate the program and offer their judgments.

Speakers

• Larry Roth, P.E., American Society of Civil Engineers
• Dr. Sai Ravela and Dr. Kerry Emanuel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Dr. Brian A. Colle, Katherine Rojowsky and Dr. Frank Buonaiuto, Stony Brook University
• Nicholas Kim, P.E., Philip Simmons, P.E., and Brian George, P.E., HydroQual, Inc.
• Joshua Friedman, NYC Office of Emergency Management
• Dr. Malcolm J. Bowman, Stony Brook University
• Warren Kurtz, P.E., Consulting Engineer
• Col. A.L. Tortora, New York District. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• James G. Mueller, P.E., NYC Department of Environmental Protection
• Dr. Anne Ronan, P.E., Cooper Union
• Dr. Jeroen Aerts, IVM-VU University, Amsterdam
• Dr. R. L. Swanson, Stony Brook University
• Alfred H. Brand, P.E., Hugh S. Lacy ,P.E., Anthony Devito, P.E. and Athena DeNivo, P.E., Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers
• Dr. Jeroen Aerts, IVM-VU University, Amsterdam
• Michael Abrahams, P.E., Parsons Brinckerhoff
• Piet Dircke, Msc, and Peter Jansen, Msc, Arcadis NV, the Netherlands
• Thomas Schoettle, P.E., Camp Dresser & McKee
• Dr. F.H. Griffis, P.E., Polytechnic Institute of New York University