BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC | Almost three years after Superstorm Sandy devastated parts of New York and New Jersey, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct a $3 million study of the region.
The study will also analyze possible protective measures, including a storm surge barrier spanning the five miles between the Rockaways in New York and Sandy Hook in New Jersey.
For Robert Trentlyon, a longtime Chelsea resident, former community newspaper publisher and waterfront and park advocate, this is welcome news.
“It feels wonderful,” Trentlyon said in a recent interview. “I’m in a constant state of euphoria. I feel that something has been accomplished.”
Trentlyon, who helped with the creation of Chelsea Waterside Park and Hudson River Park, has been sounding the alarm about rising sea levels and the need for storm surge barriers since 2009.
He had what he termed a “moment of discovery” when he retired that year.
“I said, ‘New York is going to be hit by a major, major storm and we’re not ready for it,’ ” he recalled. “ ‘What we really need are probably storm surge barriers.’ I’m not quite sure why I was so prescient.”
Trentlyon, who is neither a scientist nor an engineer, embarked on a journey to learn more, and found Stony Brook University professors Douglas Hill and Malcolm J. Bowman. Both are part of the school’s Storm Surge Research Group, which was formed in 2002.
While he couldn’t offer technical expertise, Trentlyon had something else to bring to the table: deep roots in the community and access to elected officials.
“I had a special talent that none of them had, and that was I knew the territory,” he said. “I knew all the elected officials. I knew all the heads of community boards.”
Trentlyon is also the founding president of the Chelsea Reform Democratic Club. A friend asked if he was interested in starting a political club in Chelsea, he recalled of how C.R.D.C. came to be.
“I have this terrible habit of whenever I get involved in something, I immediately become the president,” Trentlyon said with a laugh.
He began talking to community boards about the need for storm surge barriers, starting with Community Board 4, where he once was a public member. He also gave presentations to Community Boards 1 and 2.
By spring 2012, Trentlyon went before a monthly meeting of the Manhattan Borough Board — comprised of community board chairpersons and the borough’s city councilmembers. The board passed a resolution in favor of studying the barriers.
Comparing himself to Paul Revere, who warned the colonialists that the British were coming, Trentlyon said, “I’m telling you, ‘The storm surge is coming.’ ”
In early 2012, The Villager had dubbed Trentlyon a “storm surge prophet.”
Later that year, on Oct. 29, Superstorm Sandy hit the city and became the second most costly U.S. natural disaster, with some estimates putting the storm’s cost at $50 billion.
The Army Corps study will cover the New York-New Jersey Harbor and will look at a variety of alternatives to reduce the risk of coastal flooding, according to an Army Corps spokesperson.
The study is in its early stages and is expected to take three years, though it could take longer, as well as cost more than the $3 million estimate, given the large area and population, he said.
At this time, it is unknown whether storm surge barriers will be implemented, and the study will also look at levees, floodwalls and other measures to determine which are feasible economically, and also take into account the environment and public acceptability, the spokesperson said.
The Army Corps has undertaken the study, he said, as part of President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2016 budget, which recommended doing it. The results of the North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study identified New York Harbor and its tributaries as an area warranting study to reduce coastal flooding risk, the spokesperson said.
“I’ve been hoping that the Corps would do this for a long time now,” Bowman, a professor of physical oceanography, said.
Bowman has been studying storm surge barriers since the 1990s, and after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, wrote an op-ed about them in 2005 for The New York Times.
“When I wrote that, I felt something like old Noah in the Bible saying, ‘There’s a big flood coming, you better start building the ark,’ ” he said.
He was also a member of the New York City Panel on Climate Change during parts of the Bloomberg administration, during which he said people were hostile to the idea of storm surge barriers, saying that they were too costly and huge.
Bowman’s idea was that there would be one storm surge barrier between Sandy Hook and the Far Rockaways, rising about 20 feet above the water. The gates, Bowman said, swing open and closed like saloon doors, and would be open the majority of time, but shut tight if a storm or hurricane was on its way.
Another smaller barrier would be placed on the East River, near Throggs Neck, in the Bronx, he said.
Other cities, such as London and St. Petersburg, have storm barrier systems. Trentlyon has visited the Thames River Barrier.
“There hasn’t been a drop of water [from flooding] in Central London since they built it,” he said.
Both Trentlyon and Bowman said that the St. Petersburg system might be a good example for New York City. That city has a 16-mile flood-protection barrier that has a highway on top of it.
Bowman said something similar could be created in this region. For example, the connection between the two states could also be used as an interstate toll road, he offered. Another possibility could be a train between J.F.K. and Newark airports.
“It’s not a New York City problem,” Bowman said. “It’s not just a New Jersey problem. It’s a regional problem. Finally, we’re making some progress in that the Army Corps will do such a study.”
