Diagram: The Coastal Flood Zone
A "V" zone is a portion of the Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) where (according to FEMA) wave heights are greater than three feet. Broad Channel has been designated a V zone by FEMA and is subject to more stringent building requirements than coastal A zones because, again according to FEMA, the risk from coastal flooding is greater.
Coastal Base Flood Elevations (BFEs) take into account both the storm surge 'stillwater' elevation and additional effects from waves.
At a Civic Association meting on the evening of Thursday, April 28, 2011, the New York City Department of Transportation (Queens Borough Commisioner Maura McCarthy) and the RBA Group design firm (Ms. Linda Reardon and Mr. Joe Menza) provided the residents of West 12th Road an overview of the ongoing flood mitigation project.
Summary of Presentation
Project Design
Project Design
Raise Roadway Height: West 12th Road will be raised to a minimum of 3.8 feet at the bay end of the block which will necessitate a maximum increase of some 29 inches on certain segments of the West 12th Road street through Cross Bay Boulevard. According to DOT and the RBA Group, this new roadway minimum elevation eliminates 100% of historical flooding we have experienced on West 12th Road during the period of 2007 through 2009 and accounts for projected sea level rise over the next 20 years.
The above notwithstanding, I have been unable to obtain a response from FEMA as to whether their "V" Zone designation and proposed Base Flood Elevations for the Broad Channel area will take into account the ongoing flood mitigation project which is scheduled to begin on West 11th, 12th and 13th Roads this summer. In fact the FEMA representative I spoke with had no knowledge of this ongoing project.
Typical. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing because government agencies exist to feed their own existence and not to serve the public who fund them.
ReplyDeleteYou go Sophia!!! Can we secede from the city/state and country? Then we will be a foreign country. We'll declare war, lose and qualify for foreign aid? (Sound familiar? - The Mouse that Roared),
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