Storm surge barriers

keeping water out equals keeping water in so storm barriers need to be open able to let water flow out when necessary. Or have massive pumps like New Orleans.
 
Lesson ( that we should have ) learned:

Levees and equivalent will protect from all flooding up to their design limit. So we build "unsafe" structures in the protected zone. Then, of course, since those same barriers act to concentrate the flow ( think "nozzle" ) when conditions exceed the ( politically defined ) design limits, you get a massive tragedy. Likely much worse than the occasional "slight flooding" would have caused.

In short; Nice idea that does not work as advertised, but actually acts to make things worse.

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Very abbreviated example: Mississippi river levees throughout the length of the river. They keep the navigable channel clear and prevent flooding. Sometimes. Maybe. Not exactly.

But the flooding brought top soil to the fields and by allowing the river to exceed it's natural "low" banks, it did not allow for massive full length of the river flooding events.

Now that the river is channelized, we have: no top soil replenishment, periodic catastrophic flooding, and all of that topsoil os jetted out into the GoMex producing dead zones ( due to the high nutrient values ). And, I should mention, that since the swamp is no longer replenished, the Louisiana delta is vanishing, taking away massive fish breeding ground.

( Others have differing opinions. Feel free to disagree. I like this version )

--to add --
"what do you guys think?"

We should adapt to change and make the "new status quo" a part of our lives rather than attempting to stop nature in it's tracks and attempt to prevent changes.
 
Radio - excellent point, I passed it on to the people at the meeting and they appreciated the feedback.

After Riverkeeper gave us the overview and potential options the USACE are reviewing, students from Pace University attended as part of their curriculum and they did an amazing job.

First student - Presented the options and why they would fail. Mentioned the rising initial cost ($140Billion) and annual maintenance ($100Million from NYS). Mentioned how nobody knows about this project, including most of our politicians.

Second student - Demonstrated how the federal government has a track record of attempting to do damage to the Hudson. This project, the recent federal anchorages, water skimming (take drinking water from Hudson?), west side highway (fill in hudson to make a road), NYC-Beacon roadway (again fill in hudson to make a highway), storm king plant (this I am not familiar with)

Third student - Showed how the Hudson River has zero federal presence on the river. The Hudson is the second largest spawning site of Striped Bass. In contrast, other communities receive federal money to build labs to study the ecology and health of the water. Chesapeake receives $73,000,000 annually to study the estuary and most of this money is granted to local towns for schools, participation, etc.

Fourth student - Demonstrated the damage done to the Delta Project Netherlands. Apparently their waterway is not longer considered an estuary. Mentioned logistics such as testing the system would require closing the river for 5 hours. What if the gates were stuck closed, etc.

Overall, quite informing. As boaters, we should be informed.
And finally....if you want to speak up: https://secure3.convio.net/river/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=552
 
If what you're looking for is some type of surge protection, there was one developed some decades ago in japan that looked like those little girl toys called 'jacks'(I think). They were naturally interlocking and did a great job of breaking up the force of a wave
 
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