Category Archives: water

Increasing coincident surge and rain flooding

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Philip Orton

An important study was just published in the journal Nature Climate Change, on the topic of coincident rainfall and storm surge, termed “compound flooding”.  We knew that storm surges and heavy rainfall events were both getting worse in some places, such … Continue reading →

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Resilience Concepts Behind Living Breakwaters

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Philip Orton

I was asked by an intern at City Atlas, Travis Gonzales, to answer his well-posed questions on our winning Rebuild By Design entry, Living Breakwaters, and here is that Q&A, which I think gets addresses some important aspects of the concept. … Continue reading →

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Living Growing Breakwaters and Building Community Resilience

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Philip Orton

We had great news a few weeks ago — our team was selected as a winner of the HUD Rebuild By Design competition, and New York State is being awarded $60 million to build out our project — Living, Growing Breakwaters off … Continue reading →

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Increasing storm tides in New York Harbor, 1844–2013

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Philip Orton

We published a paper in the journal Geophysical Research Letters in May (paper, supporting information), and a very important yet simple result from the paper is that Stefan Talke (Portland State University) recovered historical sea level data from NY Harbor and created this great 1844-2013 … Continue reading →

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Winter Coastal Storms – a Dangerous Mix of Hazards

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Philip Orton

The winter storm hitting us right now is a reminder of how coastal flooding and winter storms can mix and bring a dangerous combination of hazards.  While the winds in this storm are substantially weaker (good news) than the Blizzard … Continue reading →

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HUD Rebuild By Design: Plans for the Future Coast

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Philip Orton

I am honored to be part of a well-constructed, diverse-minded team for the HUD (federal Housing and Urban Development) post-Sandy “Rebuild By Design” competition, one of 10 successful teams of about 150 that applied.  The team was built and is … Continue reading →

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Hurricane Sandy Storm Surge Map Animations

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Philip Orton

Hurricane Sandy was a wild beast, with a powerful high pressure system, a hurricane, a nor’easter and a high tide all meeting simultaneously to cause the highest flood in NYC history.  As a result the peak flood height was poorly … Continue reading →

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Sandy’s Staten Island Flooding Deaths: A Man-Made Disaster?

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Philip Orton

Ask people how fast the water came into New York Harbor with Hurricane Sandy, or how fast it rose, and you get a wide range of answers. Many people think it was like a tsunami that came in quickly, with … Continue reading →

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A Penhorn Polder Wildlife Refuge for Hoboken Flood Protection

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Philip Orton

We hear all the time how The Netherlands is a demonstration of how the New York City and New Jersey metro area can adapt to coastal flooding.  But we have very little in common with The Netherlands … they have … Continue reading →

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Touring Sandy’s Impact on Lower Manhattan

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Philip Orton

After an interview at Battery Park on Tuesday the day after for ABC News 20/20 Special “The Perfect Storm”, I went on a walk to see the aftermath of Sandy’s visit to lower Manhattan.  My tour took me from Battery … Continue reading →

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