Letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency: Don’t Forget the East 90’s When Redrawing the New FEMA Flood Maps
Last month I, along with Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, State Senator Liz Krueger and Councilwoman Jessica Lappin, sent a letter urging FEMA to pay particular attention to the conditions in the East 90s as they prepared their revisions to the hurricane flood maps for New York City. As you may know, under the old maps, this area was designated as Hurricane Flood Zone “A”. During Superstorm Sandy, this area experienced some of the worst flooding to affect Manhattan yet received less attention given the serious impact throughout New York City.
It has become clear that proposing a garbage dump in the middle of Flood Zone “A” is extremely dangerous and would have significant risks. During Sandy, water rose well above sea level. I am particularly concerned about Asphalt Green’s playground and the proposed MTS site as they were flooded by water from the East River, which traveled as far west as Second Avenue. Adjacent to the proposed site, the garage of 200 East End Avenue flooded up to 15 feet. During a future storm, the MTS Could put thousands of tons of garbage on a path flowing through the East Side of Manhattan.
Asphalt Green is one of our community's most valuable resources, providing one of the few remaining recreational open spaces for children. The City's plan to build the MTS threatens the health and safety of the children and adults who use Asphalt Green every day. It is imperative that FEMA pay close attention to the potential for catastrophic flooding in the East 90s as they redraw the new flood maps. Advisory Base Flood Elevation (ABFE) maps have been published on Saturday, February 24th. The ABFE’s are the starting process for updating the preliminary FEMA maps which will be released in mid-2013.