Texas unveils $61B plan to rebuild following Harvey

Dive Brief:

Texas leaders have come up with a $61 billion plan to rebuild southeast Texas following Hurricane Harvey, according to the Houston Chronicle. The plan includes three "coastal spines" to control flooding, new reservoirs and buying out thousands of properties.
Officials estimate the damage to be $180 billion, a $30 billion increase from previous estimates. Requested federal funding would encompass flood and hazard mitigation for public infrastructure, with much of the funding being funneled to Houston.
Projects that have requested funding were developed from a list of needs county and local officials compiled, as well as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects that could help prevent future damage.

Dive Insight:

Rebuilding after such damage can be a years-long process, as Hurricane Katrina demonstrated.

Even 12 years after the storm, the city is still working to rebuilding some of its areas. The Lower 9th Ward is the last neighborhood that still shows damage. Earlier this year, the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority commissioned four developers to convert 175 properties into single-family houses and duplexes in hopes that the rental units will bring people back to the community.

Superstorm Sandy, which caused approximately $65 billion of damage throughout New York and New Jersey in 2012, got people thinking about resilient design, Alex Wilson, president of the Resilient Design Institute told Construction Dive in March.

Floodwaters after the storm paralyzed transportation and destroyed businesses and homes. Since then, the area is focused on avoiding a repeat disaster. New Jersey updated its building codes and New York City passed new zoning amendments.

At the end of October, reported Popular Mechanics, New York installed 25-ton floodgates on Manhattan's side of the Hugh Carey Tunnel. Authorities hope the $64 million project will prevent flood-induced tunnel closures and damage to the electrical systems and wall and ceiling panels inside them. Custom-made gates will block subway tunnels and elevators leading down to the subway.