Environment, Coasts, Oceans, & Infrastructure

I have marine diving background and around the water all my life with the exception of Desert time. As the civil engineering community, what can we do? Suggest get out of the way --- ! The storm is going to and has rendered Hugh damage to structures, roads and ports. The Nation might offer that we are ready to assist the US Government. What are your views?   

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Len Andersen 

Our thoughts and prayers with Floridians. Thanks Len for reminding engineers how the power and wrath of Nature – can turn things upside down tossing them like toys – however robust they seem to be.

Huge tasks ahead – from caring of the affected and victims – to cleaning up and rebuilding. Just within about 2 weeks of gap between the two large hurricanes – with HELENE devastating swaths of East Coast from Florida to Virginia – and MILTON just crossing Florida.

In 2004, there were also two hurricanes just within about two weeks apart. Hurricanes FRANCES (Cat 2) and JEANNE (Cat 3) made landfall on St Lucie County in the month of September. As part of a project in 2008-2009 (under the leadership of M Walther, then president and founder of Coastal Tech; greetings Michael if you follow ASCE Collaborate), had the opportunity to work on the effects of these two hurricanes in the scope of modeling of wave activities caused by them. The purpose during that time was to estimate storm induced beach erosion and the effectiveness of sand nourishment.

Hope, affected engineers will share their experience of the wrath and damages – from rainfall flooding to wind, tornado and storm surges.

Dilip

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Dr. Dilip K Barua, Ph.D

Website Links and Profile

On Thursday a Colonel US Army made a presentation to part NYC ASCE ! He said how us engineers might help .

Update  -  USACE Role in Hurricane Response
FEMA assigns USACE missions to include: debris management, commodities distribution, temporary housing, temporary roofing, emergency power, infrastructure assessment, and support to urban search and rescue.

Hurricane Season Preparation - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

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Len Andersen 
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Updating ASCE standards to reflect the changing climate would be a great way for the ASCE to protect society from the impacts of climate change and support resilience.  ASCE needs to be proactive in preventing future damage from disasters by updated standards quickly.  A recent report from the US Chamber of Commerce indicates that there is a $13 return on investment for each $1 spent on resilience.  That report can be found at this link:  The Economic Benefits of Investing in Climate Resilience | U.S. Chamber of Commerce (uschamber.com)

Please support efforts within ASCE to update standards quickly and efforts in your community to incorporate updated standards into code.

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Carol Considine EIT, M.ASCE
Professor & Director of Applied Projects
Virginia Beach VA
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-12-2024 12:19 PM
From: Len Andersen
Subject: Hurricane Milton Gulf of Mexico! Rebuilding to follow!

On Thursday a Colonel US Army made a presentation to part NYC ASCE ! He said how us engineers might help .

Update  -  USACE Role in Hurricane Response
FEMA assigns USACE missions to include: debris management, commodities distribution, temporary housing, temporary roofing, emergency power, infrastructure assessment, and support to urban search and rescue.

Hurricane Season Preparation - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

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Len Andersen 
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Ahmed Ahmed Ph.D., C.Eng, BC.CE, F.ASCE
Senior Coastal Engineer
Dar Al Handasah (Shair and Partners)
Giza
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Ahmed, Len may come back to add to your concern. In the meantime, I like to add the following.

• There are no dearth of knowledge or research on extreme events – neither of past histories nor of present happenings. Apart from noises one hears regularly through media outlets, it is rather well-recognized that Warming Climate is a significant catalyst to the present accelerations. All cyclone, typhoon and hurricane prone countries around the world – rich and poor are getting affected by the wraths of accelerated events. Further on this, one can always look to these two sources: the 2023 NAP # 26757 and the 2021 IPCC.

• Awareness is neither lacking globally – certainly not in USA. In USA, research materials and knowledge are continually being churned out by multiple organizations – to name some, there are NHC, NOAA, National Academies, FEMA, USACE. In fact, many countries around the world look up to the US leads for such matters.

• But, being knowledgeable and delivering something in an efficient and timely-manner to the grass-root level are two different things. Is there a gap? If there is – what causes them? How to minimize the gap?

• A satisfactory disaster management mechanism is not an easy task. Willingness and commitment to serve with care and compassion respecting the victim's life and livelihood, competence, timely and effective communication, smooth and efficient delivery – of people involved, must all be factored in.

• Perhaps, one should realize that risks associated with Natural disasters are not something that can be eliminated. They are only minimizable; more in Uncertainty and Risk.

• Further, to the hurricane threats – I came across a Scientific American article; it's about FEMA ordered evacuation order and public perception of it – presented in the format of a conversation. Seems quite interesting.

• Despite all these, Milton claimed lives of some 16 people. But the good news is that areas around the Tampa Bay were spared of a positive storm surge – instead negative storm surge occurred like the past storm episodes of 2017 Hurricane Irma, 2022 Hurricane Ian.

• There is a handy booklet from FEMA: FEMA Evacuation Planning Considerations.

Dilip

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Dr. Dilip K Barua, Ph.D

Website Links and Profile

Original Message:
Sent: 10-13-2024 01:51 AM
From: Ahmed Ahmed
Subject: Hurricane Milton Gulf of Mexico! Rebuilding to follow!

Hi Len,

 

Due to climate change, the intensity and frequency of hurricanes are high, particularly in regions prone to such events as Florida. Engineers and researchers should be busy with predictions on such events and the consequences left behind to assess the robustness and resilience of coastal protection. The design lifetime and return period of the events need revision the frequent occurrence of these storms would increase the cost of the maintenance of the affected coastal protection. In addition, monitoring techniques using remote sensing (x-band marine radar, satellite images, or Argus system) are necessary to understand the coastal processes during hurricanes to identify the hotspot areas that need additional strength.

 

Last but not least all prayers and sympathy go for those who lost their lives during this event.

 

Kind Regards

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Ahmed Ahmed Ph.D., C.Eng, BC.CE, F.ASCE
Senior Coastal Engineer
Dar Al Handasah (Shair and Partners)
Giza
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