California ports will be presenting their plans to defend against higher sea levels, storm surges and flooding at the “Strategies for Storms, Flooding and Sea Level Defense” conference taking place on December 3rd at Scott’s Seafood in Oakland, California.
The participants include the ports of San Francisco, Oakland, Redwood City, Hueneme, Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego.
The conference sponsors are the Ports of San Francisco, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Oakland. The Propeller Club of Northern California is the conference coordinator.
The Port of Rotterdam will be discussing its plans to protect its terminals along with speakers representing the Dutch companies, Arcadis, Deltares and the University of Amsterdam.
Other conference participants will include representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the California Department of Transportation, the California Coastal Conservancy and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC).
Niels Aalund, president of the International Propeller Club and senior vice president of the West Gulf Maritime Association, will also be a speaker.
Elaine Forbes, executive director of the Port of San Francisco and a conference speaker, led the effort that won San Francisco voter approval for a $425 million bond issue in 2018 to begin rebuilding the seawall that protects downtown San Francisco as well as Port property.
Forbes has warned that San Francisco is one of many ports and cities in the United States and around the world that is experiencing worsening flooding as a result of higher sea levels.
The seawall will also include reinforcements to protect downtown San Francisco from an earthquake and is projected to cost $5 billion when completed.
