‘Sandy’ Recovery Offers Valuable Lessons, Experts Say

This story appears in the Jan. 21 print edition of Transport Topics.

WASHINGTON — Less than three months since Superstorm Sandy devastated the East Coast, transportation and federal relief officials still involved in the recovery effort said the lessons learned will save lives and limit the economic damage of future disasters.

A panel of experts in logistics and infrastructure shared stories during the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting here on Jan. 13, just days after a report detailing how to protect New York from major storms recommended building two more tunnels out of Manhattan.

“Superstorm Sandy brought the freight network to a standstill, disrupting the region’s supply chain for weeks,” said the report commissioned by the governor of New York.

TRB panelist Eric Smith, assistant administrator of logistics at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the response to Sandy was helped by a change implemented following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

After that storm, FEMA was granted authority to pre-position emergency equipment and supplies prior to receiving a request — or permission — from states.

Smith said overseeing 1,400 truckloads as part of the Sandy relief effort taught him a valuable lesson.

“When you move 1,400 truckloads, you have to manage 1,400 truckloads,” he said.

That effort meant trucks and trailers had to be pulled out of the normal freight stream, making it vital to get the equipment back into its normal flow, while also limiting federal government expenditures, Smith said.

While most have been returned to owners, an estimated 80 trucks or trailers remain unclaimed, which Smith said means a better process for asset recovery needs to be developed.

Coordinating oversize and overweight moves through multiple state and local jurisdictions also needs to be smoother, he said, as does adherence to approved routes by drivers to limit damage to truck equipment.

Superstorm Sandy battered the region Oct. 29, flooding parts of New York City, knocking out electricity to millions of customers and disrupting transportation on the eastern U.S. seaboard.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved $50.5 billion in emergency relief for the victims last week. The Senate was likely to accept the measure this week and send it to President Obama for his signature.

From terrorism to natural disasters, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey long ago developed a series of emergency plans, said Stephanie Dawson, the port’s acting chief operating officer.

However, even with advance notice that Sandy was coming, Dawson said, she realized that “72 hours is not a lot of time to put in place any changes that might mitigate against a storm like this.”

For example, planning documents called for using sandbags to limit flooding, but they proved of limited use because they did not take into account the size and strength of Sandy, said Dawson. Similarly, the extent of the damage to shipping containers at port facilities was far greater than could have been imagined.

Out of the storm’s devastation, Dawson said, a renewed appreciation of consultants and business contractors has developed.

Both in storm preparation and recovery, “We need to rethink how we partner with them,” she said. In particular, Dawson praised efforts by General Electric Co. to conduct special factory runs in Puerto Rico to expedite the building of parts to repair transit trains that link New York City and New Jersey.

Many of Dawson’s comments echoed a Jan. 11 report by the NYS 2100 Commission, formed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in response to recent severe weather events.

Besides new tunnels, the group recommended a wide range of measures to limit transportation disruptions from future storms, such as installing barriers and gates to prevent flooding at ports.

“Following Superstorm Sandy, ports in the New York metropolitan area suffered heavy damage. Facilities were inundated with salt water; cargo containers toppled from stacks; access roads and rail track were washed out; and barges and debris were tossed about, damaging piers. Less visible, but perhaps more serious, was damage to the ports’ electrical infrastructure,” the report said.

Holly Bamford, deputy assistant administrator for the National Ocean Service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told TRB attendees it was extensive marine debris — especially small personal vessels — that resulted in delays reopening some East Coast ports.

“There was a lot of pressure to get [the Port of New York and New Jersey] open to start getting fuel barges in,” she said.

Similar scenes played out at other ports, including Baltimore and Hampton Roads, Va., where a loaded coal barge was waiting to head out and a U.S. military aircraft carrier needed to dock.

The New York report also recommended using floodgates for tunnels, keeping airports operational by adding water pumps with emergency generators and burying key energy lines to reduce damage from downed wires on roadways.

At TRB, Peter Cafiero, chief of operations planning for the Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York City, showed striking photos of flooded subways.

Damage to the entire transportation network during the storm meant the subway “was a lot harder to reopen after the storm than to shut down,” he said.

To prevent a repeat of fuel shortages, the New York report calls for a state fuel depot, as well as a push for more electric vehicles — such as ones tested by FedEx Corp. in Manhattan during 2012.