They’re upping a creek!
The city aims to build a $7-million natural flood barrier along the part of Coney Island Creek to protect Gravesend from rising sea levels and the next Hurricane Sandy. The proposed “living shoreline” will be a boon, because plants — unlike man-made walls — can rise with the sea levels, according to one creek-aphile who called the investment a no-brainer.
“Using natural means for flood-control is really the best solution. It’s passive and not mechanical, and as the oceans rise so do the wetlands — they build on themselves,” area historian Charles Denson said. “It benefits the community in a million different ways, like becoming a habitat for wildlife.”
The city’s Economic Development Corporation put the project out to bid on April 20, asking contractors cook up a deluge-protection plan for the inlet separating Calvert Vaux and Six Diamonds parks that “includes ecological enhancements and potential new aquatic habitats.” The winning proposal must protect Gravesend from 8- to 10-foot storm surges and flooding through 2050, when sea levels will have risen somewhere between 11 and 21 inches, according to the New York City Panel on Climate Change.
Creek-adjacent sections of Gravesend are very likely to flood during hurricanes and tropical storms, according to the city’s flood zone map. The project may help restore the area’s shoreline to its pre-industrial state — before it became a dumping ground for toxic materials and scuttled boats.
The barriers would complement other flood-mitigation plans in store for the area, such as the controversial plan to build a floodgate across the mouth of the creek near W. 23rd Street, city officials said.
The project is part of the city’s “Raised Shorelines” program, which also includes a $900,000 undertaking Gowanus Canal and a $3.6 million one in Canarsie.
