Bloomberg Wants To Place Removable Steel Barriers To Prevent Major Flooding

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is planning to propose placing 12 foot high removable steel barriers along the city’s waterfront should a massive storm like Sandy head our way again, NY1 reports.

If enacted, Bloomberg’s plan would see the installation of the removable barriers along flood-prone city coastlines. Bloomberg is betting that this method of flood prevention will not only protect the coastline and the environment but be more cost effective then the massive Dutch-style barriers that have also been proposed.

Governor Andrew Cuomo prefers this latter option, pushing for a more permanent and ambitious solution to fight massive flooding, a plan that oceanographer Malcolm Bowman thinks is the right course.

“I think we have to do what Governor Cuomo has asked for, and that is an engineering analysis of storm surge barriers across the major entrances to New York Harbor, Rockaway to Sandy Hook, and then the East River,” Bowman told NY 1. “Because nothing less will protect the major airports, the shipping facilities, all the infrastructure that we saw devastated during Sandy.”

Just yesterday, we reported on the $6 billion in federal aid earmarked to prevent flooding of the subway system. While the details of that plan have yet to be specifically devised, and are ultimately up to Cuomo and the MTA, several lower cost ideas have been floated, similar to Bloomberg’s plan. These include installing deployable watertight grates across vents and stairways and installing protective walls along the subway lines that run outdoors.