Federal agencies remapping coastal areas damaged by Hurricane Sandy

August 20, 2013

In a Sandy-response project earlier this spring, a NOAA navigation response team — equipped with high-tech surveying equipment — searched for underwater storm debris and mapped the depths surrounding Liberty Island and Ellis Island.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

A day after the administration released the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force progress report, three federal agencies have announced plans for remapping parts of the East Coast, where Hurricane Sandy altered seafloors and shorelines, destroyed buildings, and disrupted millions of lives last year.

NOAA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are using emergency supplemental funds provided by Congress to survey coastal waters and shorelines, acquiring data that will update East Coast land maps and nautical charts.

Using ships, aircraft, and satellites, the agencies will measure water depths, look for submerged debris, and record altered shorelines in high priority areas from South Carolina to Maine, as stipulated by Congress in the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013. The areas to be remapped will be based on their relative dangers to navigation, effects from the storm, and discussions with state and local officials as well as the maritime industry.

In Sandy's immediate aftermath, NOAA survey vessels responded to calls for assistance from storm-ravaged areas in New York, New Jersey, Delaware Bay, and Virginia. This navigation response team cleared a path to launch at Marcus Hook.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

“Our approach is to map once, then use the data for many purposes,” said NOAA Rear Admiral Gerd Glang, director of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. “Under the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act, NOAA and its federal partners are taking a 'whole ocean' approach to get as much useful information as possible from every dollar invested to help states build more resilient coastlines.”

The data, much of which will be stored at NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center, and through NOAA’s Digital Coast, will be open to local, state, and federal agencies as well as academia and the general public. The information can be applied to updating nautical charts, removing marine debris, replenishing beaches, making repairs, and planning for future storms and coastal resilience.

As the sun rose over New York on Nov. 1, NOAA Corps Ensign Lindsey Norman retrieved the side scan sonar that NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson used to survey the Hudson River, allowing fuel barge traffic to resume.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

The three federal agencies are collaborating for greater topographic and hydrographic coverage and to promote efficiency. Earlier this year, a NOAA navigation response team surveyed the waters around Liberty Island and Ellis Island in New York harbor, measuring water depths and searching for debris that could cause a danger to navigation. Also, NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson began surveying the approaches to the Delaware Bay in June.

NOAA plans to contract with commercial firms for additional hydrographic survey projects and high resolution topographic and bathymetric elevation data and imagery in the region.

The U.S. Geological Survey will collect very high-resolution elevation data to support scientific studies related to the hurricane recovery and rebuilding activities, watershed planning and resource management. USGS will collect data in coastal and inland areas depending on their hurricane damages and the age and quality of existing data. The elevation data will become part of a new initiative, called the 3D Elevation Program, to systematically acquire improved, high-resolution elevation data across the United States.

Within hours of Sandy's departure, NOAA deployed research vessel Bay Hydro II to survey ship channels in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, speeding the resumption of shipping and naval operations.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

“The human deaths and the powerful landscape-altering destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy are a stark reminder that our nation must become more resilient to coastal hazards,” said Kevin Gallagher, associate director for Core Science Systems at USGS. "Sandy's most fundamental lesson is that storm vulnerability is a direct consequence of the elevation of coastal communities in relation to storm waves. Communities will benefit greatly from the higher resolution and accuracy of new elevation information to better prepare for storm impacts, develop response strategies, and design resilient and cost-efficient post-storm redevelopment."

The Army Corps of Engineers and its Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise are covering particular project areas in Massachusetts, Virginia, and New Jersey. They will coordinate operations, research, and development in airborne lidar bathymetry and complementary technologies for USACE, NOAA, and the U.S. Navy.

Preliminary U.S. damage estimates are near $50 billion, making Sandy the second-costliest cyclone to hit the United States since 1900. There were at least 147 direct deaths recorded across the Atlantic basin due to Sandy, with 72 of these fatalities occurring in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States. This is the greatest number of U.S. direct fatalities related to a tropical cyclone outside of the southern states since Hurricane Agnes in 1972.

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To ease impact of quota cuts on New England groundfisheries, NOAA proposes opening long-time closure areas

July 10, 2013

Map showing proposed areas to be re-opened after long-time closure.

Download here (Credit: NOAA)

As part of an overall effort to help fishermen adjust to new quota cuts for groundfish implemented last month, today, NOAA Fisheries announced a proposal to open approximately 33 percent of areas currently closed to protect groundfish and habitat that have been off limits for nearly 20 years -- that is 2,925 square miles of the approximately 8,920 sq miles currently closed. The proposal also includes protections to ensure that habitat, vulnerable groundfish stocks, and other species, such as whales and harbor porpoise, are not put at risk.

In April, based largely on advice from the New England Fishery Management Council, NOAA Fisheries announced its final management measures for the Northeast groundfish fishery, including much lower quotas for some key stocks. Those measures went into effect in May. NOAA Fisheries has been working for months to lessen the effects of these cuts on fishermen and fishing communities, including increasing quotas and approving use of various gear and fishing methods to help fishermen better target healthy groundfish and other stocks prior to today’s announcement.

“We’ve been working with fishermen, state managers and others to find creative ways to help fishermen identify sustainable fishing opportunities this year,” said John Bullard, NOAA Fisheries northeast regional administrator. “Today’s action is another step in our overall effort to help transition fishing effort to healthy, more abundant fish stocks, while we work to rebuild cod and other stocks in poor condition and protect important habitats that are crucial for the overall health of our marine ecosystems.”

The three offshore areas under consideration lie to the south and east of Cape Cod. NOAA Fisheries does not propose to reopen these areas in their entirety; specific sections will remain closed based on the Council’s recommendations to protect habitat. Also, catch of stocks that are in poor condition, such as Georges Bank yellowtail and cod stocks, or are spawning, will be minimized through seasonal restrictions and the use of selective trawl and hook gear.

While these areas have been closed to groundfishing, other fishing activities have occurred in portions of these areas including lobster fishing. NOAA Fisheries also proposes to enact an agreement negotiated between groundfish and lobster fishermen, and recommended by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which limits groundfishing to times of year when lobster fishing is not as prevalent to minimize the potential for conflict between gear types.

“When year-round closures were put in place, our main goal was to reduce groundfish catch. However, now that fishermen are operating under annual catch limits, we no longer need year-round closures to control total catch but some areas still need to remain closed to protect habitat and those that we open must be opened in a responsible and sustainable way,” continued Bullard.

In areas that NOAA Fisheries is proposing to reopen, the agency is proposing to require monitoring on all fishing trips to gather data on fish caught and possible interactions with whales, harbor porpoise, and other animals. Fishing vessel operators wanting access to these areas will be required to cover the cost of monitoring.

NOAA Fisheries is also proposing to keep inshore year-round closures in place. This decision is due to the poor condition of Gulf of Maine cod and haddock and concerns expressed by a number of commercial and recreational fishermen and members of the environmental community.

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Tornado-ravaged areas hit by snowstorm, cold

WEST LIBERTY, Kentucky (Reuters) - A winter snow storm added to the woes on Monday of tornado-struck Indiana and Kentucky, dropping several inches of snow on the ravaged region where dozens of people were killed, meteorologists said.

Overnight, three to five inches of snow fell in southern Indiana and north-central Kentucky, where recovery efforts were underway after Friday's deadly twisters, the National Weather Service said.

The fast-moving tornadoes, numbering at least 30, splintered blocks of homes and tossed around vehicles like toys.

Officials said the death toll was at least 39 -- 21 in Kentucky, 13 in Indiana, three in Ohio and one in Alabama. Georgia also reported a storm-related death.

One casualty was a toddler who survived a tornado in New Pekin, Indiana, and was found alive in a field. However, the 14-month-old girl died of her injuries Sunday. Her mother, father and two siblings also were killed.

In hard-hit West Liberty, Kentucky, the wet, heavy snow is contributing to the danger of more structural damage to buildings already weakened by the storm.

The snow has already caused the collapse of 20-foot by 30-foot tent set up to serve meals to emergency workers and survivors. Kentucky Baptist Convention volunteers shifted meal service to a crowded community center.

The snow had started to melt by early afternoon, and the region will have a break from storms the remainder of the week to focus on clean-up, according to the National Weather Service.

West Liberty's main street was congested with emergency workers, insurance inspectors and security personnel Monday morning, as shop owners and employees tried to return to their stores to assess the damage.

Among them were Linda Oakley, who along with her husband, Dale Oakley, accompanied firefighters into the storm-damaged All Occasion Flowers.

They used flashlights to survey the pitch-black store and found it a mess -- water on the floor, insulation hanging from the ceiling and smashed pots. Mysteriously, some floral arrangements on light-weight shelves remained intact. Thomas, the store cat, was found alive, but he wouldn't come out of his hiding place.

"Anything we can do to get back to normal business, (residents) will see that as a reason to believe we can recover," said Linda Oakley, an employee at the shop.

The region's weather was clearing on Monday and the snow was melting as of Monday afternoon, giving workers some relief as they tackled the massive recovery effort.

Like the interior of the flower shop, the homes of West Liberty showed the bizarre random nature of tornadoes -- some destroyed, some untouched. In front of a West Liberty house that had been undamaged, children were building a snowman.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear said on Sunday the storm had caused at least $5.8 million in property damage. He described the scene in West Liberty as "total devastation" and signed an executive order barring price gouging for food and other necessities.

Reports of looting began to surface late Friday, according to the Kentucky State Police, though the situation is now under control. As recently as Sunday afternoon, police stopped a vehicle on a back road that was trying to leave a home with a load full of stolen copper, said Albert Hale, the emergency manager for Laurel County.

The opportunity for looters is clearly visible -- even from a busy highway drivers can view destroyed homes where items such as televisions sit unattended. Hale estimated that seven miles worth of damaged homes need to be monitored. In hard-hit areas, officials stopped drivers to make sure they had a good reason to be in the area.

The extra security means Tracy Pitman in Laurel County, Kentucky does not have to worry about thieves while sitting in her small recreational vehicle with her grandson.

For her, the bigger concern is planning the Wednesday funeral for her father-in-law and mother-in-law, both killed Friday during the storm. The family is planning to create a cemetery behind the spot where the family's homes used to stand.

"That's the way our parents wanted it to be," Pitman said.

The violent storms raised fears that 2012 would be another bad year for tornadoes after 550 deaths in the United States were blamed on twisters last year, the deadliest year in nearly a century, according to the National Weather Service.

AccuWeather.com reported that Friday's storms may be one of the worst tornado outbreaks for early March on record, with 80 sightings between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m.

March and April are typically busy months for tornadoes, and it is difficult to predict how bad the rest of the tornado season would be, according to Greg Carbin, warning coordination meteorologist, NOAA's National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center.

(Reporting by John Stoll and Andy Stern; Writing by Mary Wisniewski; Editing By Ellen Wulfhorst, Paul Thomasch and Greg McCune)

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