Flood Mitigation and House Lifting
The Mid-Atlantic coastline, stretching from New Jersey to Virginia, is renowned for its scenic beaches and vibrant coastal communities. However, this region faces an increasing threat: rising sea levels. Over the past century, the coastline has experienced a sea level rise significantly higher than the global average.
What is flood mitigation?
Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and runoff. Flood management methods can be either of the structural type (i.e. flood control) and of the non-structural type. Structural methods hold back floodwaters physically, while non-structural methods do not. Building hard infrastructure to prevent flooding, such as flood walls, is effective at managing flooding. However, it is best practice within landscape engineering to rely more on soft infrastructure and natural systems, such as marshes and flood plains, for handling the increase in water. Wikipedia
How we address the rising waters issue ...
Baltic Avenue Canal and Pumps
Construction was recently completed on a major infrastructure project in Atlantic City, designed for stormwater management in the city’s neighborhoods. The $22-million Baltic Avenue Canal improvement project reactivated the Baltic Canal built in 1912. The canal, which drains 775-acres of the city that stretches from south of the Atlantic City Expressway to Absecon Inlet and serves portions of the Ducktown, Westside, Midtown, Bungalow Park, and Inlet neighborhoods.
The canal is 9,700 feet long, over ten feet wide and eight feet tall, and can store over 1.1 million cubic feet of stormwater when the floodgates are operational.
Venice Park Bulkheads
Venice Park is an unusual island neighborhood in northeastern Atlantic City, New Jersey. It is surrounded by a waterway known locally as the Beach Thoroughfare on three sides, and on its remaining side by the Penrose Canal. In addition, the Venice Park Lagoon flows through the interior of the island.
The engineering aspect of the Venice Park Bulkhead Project was as complex as the legal issues. For example, constructing the bulkheads to prevent damage to nearby homes required a high degree of skill and planning. The project was completed in 2009 at a final cost of $14 million, wholly paid by casino revenues.
Chelsea Heights Bulkheads
Projects nearing completion include the bulkhead construction on South Boulevard in Chelsea Heights and the replacement of check valves along the back bay. The $6.5 million Lower Chelsea bulkhead project to replace all public bulkheads is now underway.
This project includes the replacement of various sections of city-owned bulkhead along Sunset Avenue, Winchester Avenue, and various street ends, between Jackson Avenue and North Albany Avenue in the Lower Chelsea Neighborhood.
House Lifting
Communities across the Mid-Atlantic are already embracing house raising as a solution. For example, many homeowners have elevated their properties following Superstorm Sandy’s devastation in 2012. According to AP News, these efforts have not only reduced flood risks but also fostered a sense of resilience within the community. We can check out a house raising project on our ride.
Government programs and grants can help offset the cost of house raising. FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) provides funding to eligible homeowners for elevation projects.