b'ocToBER 26 - NovERMBER 8, 2020NOrth AmericAs trANsPOrtAtiON & LOGistics NewsPAPer21Port of San Francisco study warns of $30 billion damage from earthquake & sea level riseBy Stas Margonanis, AJOT The Port of San Franciscosing and lateral spreadingrecentlyreleasedMulti-Hazard Risk Assessment (MHRA) warnsc onclusIonthat the City and Port of San Fran- The Port is planning to pri-ciscocouldfaceupto$30bil- oritize projects by March 2021 lion in damage by 2100 from thethatmustbeupgraded:The combined effects of sea level risePortsgoalistoidentifythe flooding and a major earthquake. measures that are most appropri-Thekeyvulnerableareaisate to protect the many different the seawall that protects Port prop- conditions along the waterfront erty and downtown San Franciscoinwaysthatreflectcityand from the San Francisco Bay. community priorities.The report notes the follow-ing threats:Soilconditionshaveabig effect, creating higher and lower riskzones:DeepYoungBay Mud is a problem in some areas andsandlayersareaproblem in other locations, while ground shakingandsettlementare additional problems. Earthquake risk to San Francis-cos waterfront is severe and the consequences will be expensive: physicaldamagesandunder-stand economic losses across four earthquake levels (minimal, mod-erate, high, and severe). Included in the economic loss predictions arecostofrepair/replacement, loss of building-related contents, business interruption and reloca-tion, lost wages, lost rent to the Port,andindirectandinduced effects. These estimates allow us to quantify the fiscal benefits of investment.SanFranciscoswaterfrontis very sensitive to flood thresholds, withsignificantconsequences: We now, have predicted coastal flooddamagesforallbuildings and major infrastructure exposed by Seawall overtopping, which is when water, usually in the form of storm surge or a wave, reaches overtheshorelineandcauses inlandflooding.Wealsohave thefirstflood-mappingofthe City that includes wave action, an important contributor to flooding.TheareaaroundtheFerry Buildingisoneofthehighest risk areas on the waterfront from bothearthquakesandflood-ing:Thesubareahassome ofthelowestelevationsalong theEmbarcaderoSeawalland includesareasoftheshoreline that are currently overtopped by Bay waters during storm events and extreme tidal events.Manyhistoricbuildingsand bulkheadwharvesareathigh risk: The bulkhead wharves are the structures located where the pile supported piers over the Bay meettheland. Thesestructures are interconnected with the Sea-wall and support the ornate, his-toric bulkhead buildings that line theEmbarcadero.Thesestruc-turesareathighriskofearth-quakedamageandwillflood with increasing sea levels.Woodpile-supportedstruc-tures in Fishermans Wharf are vulnerable to both ground shak-'