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The Tampa Bay Times is reporting on a stalled effort to repair damages caused during Hurricane Milton to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The 35-year-old stadium was initially set for a much-needed influx of $24 million worth of funding. Instead, with a last-minute reversal and given... View full entry
A new roof would be the largest expense, according to the report, accounting for about $23.6 million, but the report states that “the primary structure is serviceable and capable of supporting a replacement tension membrane fabric roof.”
Based on the preliminary timeline in the report, it would take a little less than 13 months from the start of construction until “final completion,” with the repairs wrapping up just before a projected Opening Day in late March of 2026.
— Major League Baseball
The cost of repairs has been stated at $55.7 million. The Rays will play their home games in Tampa at George M. Steinbrenner Field (the Yankees’ Spring Training home since 1996) while repair work continues. The vexing financial fiasco is further complicated as the franchise is set to expand... View full entry
The long road back for residents of the western North Carolina counties that were heavily impacted due to flooding from Hurricane Helene is still being mapped out, but now the New York Times and other local outlets are reporting on critics who say reforms to the state’s building codes could have... View full entry
The roof at Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, sustained major damage because of high winds associated with Hurricane Milton, which made landfall Wednesday along Florida's Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm.
According to the Rays, the Trop was built to withstand winds of up to 115 mph. The roof is supported by 180 miles of cables connected by struts in what the team calls the "world's largest cable-supported domed roof."
— ESPN
The Populous design in St. Petersburg (formerly called the 'ThunderDome') has existed mostly without sustaining significant storm damage since 1990. The roof system was made from 370,000 square feet of PTFE (fiberglass) Tensile Membrane manufactured by a New York company called Birdair, Inc. ... View full entry
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have devised a new method to digitally simulate hurricanes. Using data derived from 100 years of hurricane monitoring, infused with modern AI techniques, the researchers suggest that simulating the trajectory and wind... View full entry
Damage caused by Hurricane Ian’s massive storm surge, flooding and winds will require skilled workers to help the state of Florida rebuild. Staffing the projects to restore the state is easier said than done. Both Florida and the U.S. as a whole have many job openings and few skilled laborers. As some projects in the state halt, they may free tradespeople for other vital work. — Construction Dive
Figures reported by Construction Dive indicate a cause for concern regarding a lack of skilled workers for the many openings available, which has been magnified in the wake of Hurricane Ian. The disaster, which hit Florida in late September, has resulted in billions of dollars in property damage... View full entry
The federal government wants to build a massive system of storm surge gates and seawalls to protect the New York harbor region from flooding and has put forth a much-delayed plan that would remake coastal areas from upper Manhattan down to Jamaica Bay.
The Army Corps estimates construction on the $52 billion project would begin in 2030 and be complete by 2044. The project must be first approved by federal, state and local officials and funded before any of the work can start.
— The City
The New York District, North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released a 569-page report outlining a coastal storm risk management feasibility study. According to The City's Samantha Maldonado, a public comment period will be held through January 6th, 2023, as a means to... View full entry
After Hurricane Fiona tore through Puerto Rico on Sunday [Sept. 18], roads in the small mountain city of Caguas—hit with more than 20 inches of rain—were underwater. Landslides washed away some streets. As on the rest of the island, the electric grid went down, and it wasn’t clear how many homes had been damaged or destroyed. But in two new prototype homes, the electricity stayed on. — Fast Company
The prototypes are single-family homes completely off-grid with electricity and potable water. They were designed by New York City and Puerto Rico-based Marvel Architects and paid for by nonprofit Acacia Network. The homes utilize hurricane and... View full entry
As the fallout of Hurricane Ida comes into focus in both the Gulf Coast region and the Atlantic Northeast, one area of chronic concern has become ground zero for planning gaps that are increasingly deadly indicators of race and class in cities that number among the most expensive in the world. The... View full entry
The transit situation on Thursday in New York City remained paralyzed, with service on more than half of the city’s subway lines disrupted, commuter rail lines running limited trains, and Amtrak canceling service on a major corridor. — The New York Times
Wednesday night’s flooding caused New York City to issue a travel ban usually reserved for major winter storm events. The storm also inundated large sections of major highways in Philadelphia and impacted operations at Newark Liberty International Airport. The New York subway hasn’t seen a... View full entry
Video shot Monday morning shows New Orleans’ historic Karnofsky Shop was destroyed by Hurricane Ida Sunday. [...]
The site, located on South Rampart Street, is where Louis Armstrong played jazz music and briefly worked. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
— WGNO New Orleans
The two-story brick building in New Orleans’ Central Business District has stood vacant for decades and was considered a hallmark of both Jazz history and Jewish culture within the Crescent City. The Karnofsky family, which purportedly loaned Louis Armstrong the money to buy his first cornet... View full entry
The $14.5 billion flood-protection system built around New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina seems to have succeeded at keeping the city from going underwater again. — The New York Times
The abject failure of the levee system during Hurricane Katrina was the primary cause of the devastation that eventually cost the city a minimum of 1,800 lives and over $81 billion in property damage. Ida represents the first test of the system since it was completed in 2018. The levees were... View full entry
June marks the start of hurricane season on the Atlantic Ocean. Even amidst the ravages of a novel coronavirus and state violence, the perils posed by a heating planet are not going away. If the city turned out to be woefully underprepared for a pandemic, what about measures to protect against storms and floods? — Urban Omnibus
Amy Howden-Chapman, co-founder of the climate change and arts platform The Distance Plan, takes a closer look at a variety of climate impact interventions at New York City's most endangered stretches of coastline: from Lower Manhattan and the Lower East Side, Red Hook, Rockaway Boardwalk, all... View full entry
In Florida, you will see a bewildering mix of optimism, opportunism and denial in the real estate market: luxury condominiums going up in flood-prone South Beach, and property values rising in the vulnerable Keys, post-Hurricane Irma. And though the House of Representatives passed a bill to require real estate agents to disclose flood risks, the Senate has not reviewed it, and a culture of “systemic, fraudulent nondisclosure” persists in high flood risk areas. — The Guardian
As part of her Climate Changed series for The Guardian, Megan Mayhew Bergman investigates the reluctance of Florida's condominium boom (and the wealthy investors behind it) to cool it a bit on new developments in the face of projected climate change-related devastation. "Humans tend to respond to... View full entry
Some of the world's most scenic locations for luxury homes — beachfronts, forests, mountains — are also prone to disaster: hurricanes and floods, wildfires and earthquakes. Architects and designers are increasingly tasked with creating gorgeous homes that are also able to stand up to nature's whims. — CNN
It shouldn't have to take another reminder from the United Nations that a lot more climate change-related extreme weather scenarios will be heading our way in the coming decades to finally take disaster preparedness into consideration when designing homes. View full entry
