Introduction:
When concerned with climate change, we must consider the possible implications storm surges and extreme weather can have on our transportation. In the community of Cambridge, MIT is always on the go with its many faculty members, researchers, and students. Blocking major roadways and preventing public transportation systems, extreme weather and storm surges can cause a large amount of damage, considering the possibility of hurricanes. However, the costs can be mitigated if we prepare for such events. Without facilitating the efficient forms of transportation, whether they be public or private, MIT will not be able to run effectively.
Solutions:
Government Programs: Topographical Maps
Knowing the places that are at most risk for flooding is crucial to the sustainability of transportation especially in the public domain. Accurate topographical maps can provide an excellent basis for planning further production of buildings which MIT is often doing (i.e. the new nanotechnology building) and repairs to the transportation infrastructure. Many other cities have used these maps before and have seen a quite high cost-benefit ratio. Notably North Carolina has seen a large cost-benefit ration of these maps of 2.24 according to a FEMA study.[1] Although plans can cost around $2000 per mile, the potential money saved from successful prevention of floods and high rains is much greater than the cost of continuously repairing damaged structures. Moreover, other government programs with the possibility of implementation would include larger number of crews active by the city to clean or repair damages done to the transportation infrastructure to facilitate the public system especially during times of extreme weather. In the summer, this would include cases of downed power lines and trees that have fallen onto the roads. In the winter, this would include larger crews of snowplows and salters in the case of heavy snowfall.
Education: Emergency Planning
In case of extreme weather that makes staying at MIT not entirely safe, public outreach needs to be given so that MIT’s constituents can plan accordingly. This way, we can ensure that proper facilitation of evacuation and potentially saving vital research located at MIT. By visiting to the Massachusetts’ State website, we can see that MIT is located in evacuation zone B and contains the proper hurricane preparations.[2]
Flood Drills
Extremely short-term reactions to storm surge primarily include moving people out of at-risk areas in the days/hours before/during a surge or sudden flood. This requires coordination of transportation and disaster shelters in high elevation/further inland areas, as well as government medical assistance. Relief efforts would likely be the most effective as a joint effort by government disaster response agencies and NGO’s such as the Red Cross. More efficient emergency transportation networks (e.g. using public transportation instead of everyone driving out individually, which increases traffic) can also be developed by government programs on a local level.
The Advanced Circulation storm model (ADCIRC), developed by the Department of Homeland Security, is crucial to preparing populations for disasters.[3] The earlier and more accurately storms can be predicted, the sooner people can be evacuated in the event of a sudden surge. This includes more accurate mapping tools, which should (and are) being developed in conjunction with atmospheric/oceanographic research and data collection.[4]
Educating people in flood-prone areas about risks and disaster protocols will both make them more aware of dangers, and make the evacuation process more efficient in the case of an emergency. Undergoing routine “flood drills” in the most at-risk areas may even be necessary to streamline the process in the event of an actual emergency.
Allocating state/federal funds for disaster relief based on data on average emergency spending would better prepare towns, cities and regions to handle both adaptations/preparations for surge events, and emergency response plans and later, reconstruction costs.[5]
Ensuring that low-income areas have equally efficient and practiced emergency response programs as higher-income areas is essential to ensure that these areas and people are not disproportionately affected. Developing an emergency response “blueprint” on a state or regional level that could be applied to all communities in the area would be helpful, so that low-income areas are not left without a plan, especially because local governments in these areas often do not have the manpower or financial capacity to worry about disaster response plans because they are handling the day-to-day survival of their homes and schools. Rebuilding flood-damaged buildings and roads in low-income areas presents a large problem, as we saw after Hurricane Katrina when impoverished neighborhoods were not rebuilt until the wealthier areas had been paid attention.[6] This is an issue that could be solved by transferring responsibility of emergency relief funds to the state, which could allocate them based on population density as opposed to letting wealthy areas rebuild themselves while poor areas flounder.
By Lucy Zhang
References
1. National Resource Council, Water Science and Technology Board, Board on Earth Sciences and Resources/Mapping Science Committee, & Committee on FEMA Flood Maps. (2009). Mapping the zone: improving flood map accuracy. Washington, D.C.: National Research Council, Water Science and Technology Board, Board on Earth Sciences and Resources/Mapping Science Committee, Committee on FEMA Flood Maps.
2. M. (2015, December 03). Hurricane Evacuation Zones | MEMA. Retrieved November 25, 2017, from http://www.mass.gov/eopss/agencies/mema/emergencies/hurricanes/hurricane-evacuation-zones.html
3. FEMA. (2016, March 2). Getting Ahead of the Storm Surge: ADCIRC Model [PDF]. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
4. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2017, October 30). Snapshot: Storm Surge Prediction Tool Helps Emergency Managers Prepare. Retrieved November 28, 2017, from https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/news/2017/09/14/snapshot-storm-surge-prediction-tool-helps-emergency-managers
5. ProVention Consortium, Christian Aid, AIDMI, & UN/ISDR. (2009, March 20). Practice Review on Innovations in Finance for Disaster Risk Management [PDF]. PreventionWeb.
6. U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. (2016, August 30). Retrieved November 28, 2017, from https://toolkit.climate.gov/topics/built-environment/social-equity