ResilienceStates invest in resilience in the face of mounting extreme-weather challenges

Months after Superstorm Sandy devastated the New York coast line, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Office of Storm Recovery launched a $17 billion strategy to transform the state’s infrastructure. Project Reimagining New York for a New Reality sought to make the state’s transportation networks, energy supply, coastal protection efforts, weather warning systems, and emergency management more resilient. The strategy is just one example of a trend in investments towards resilience efforts post Hurricane Katrina, Irene, Lee, and Sandy.

Poughkeepsie Journal reports that in 2013, seven committees representing seventeen communities in the Hudson Valley and Catskills region were allocated $3 million each in federal storm aid towards projects seeking to leverage the expertise of community members to identify resilient and innovative reconstruction projects. “The increasing frequency of severe weather has become the new normal … and I want our state to be better prepared than ever for the next major storm,” Cuomo said in a statement. “That’s what (New York) Rising is all about — communities identifying their most pressing needs and working with the state to build back better and stronger so that we can meet the challenges of the future together.”

Two months after Sandy, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority amended its 2013-14 capital plan to include $5.8 billion to protect its assets against future severe weather events. Authorities believe that by the end of the century, many parts of the commuter railroad could be underwater if sea-level rise by just 2.5 feet- less than half of current worst-case projections.

Superstorm Sandy caused roughly 104,000 Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. customers to lose power. As part of a pending request for a rate increase, the company is proposing several storm-related measures to protect against future storms. A proposed electric transmission work will cost $13.8 million in the July 2015-June 2016 rate year, and will cost $102 million over five years. Company spokesman John Maserjian notes that the work includes replacement of wood poles and older wires with corten steel poles and new conductors. Improvements in electric distribution, which includes replacing older poles and wires as well as improvements to the distribution automation and management systems, would cost $22 million in the next rate year and $166.1 million over five years. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which manages the reservoir system that provides the region with drinking water is also making improvements to protect its facilities from flooding and storm water contamination. “I think one of the greatest outcomes of the past two years is that there is a much greater awareness about risk,” said Irene Nielson, the regional climate change coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been upgrading the supercomputers the National Weather Service uses to make predictions- a vital element to storm-related planning. The two-year project will be completed next summer according to NOAA officials. “After next summer’s upgrade, a new version of the U.S. Global Forecast System will be installed,” said Steve DiRienzo, meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Albany. “This has been shown to have increased forecast accuracy, but needs the greater computer power to run in a timely manner to make it useful for (National Weather Service) operations.”