Building Hardening
Building hardening is the focus on strengthening the essential systems of a building such as electricity, mechanics, fuel, communication, and more to withstand water penetration from flooding. The goal is to allow the building to operate during a coastal storm surge and to return back to service faster than it would without hardening. However building hardening does not prevent overall flooding.
There are two types of building hardening that are used:
wet floodproofing and dry floodproofing
Wet floodproofing: involves allowing water to enter a building without endangering structural stability or equipment integrity
Dry floodproofing: prevents water from entering a building or its equipment
An Example of Dry-Floodproofing provided by the NYCEDC
According to the NYCEDC, building hardening is the recommended solution to the risks of flooding at Hunt's Point. Specifically, building hardening "mitigates the targeted risks Hunts Point facilities face, while maintaining existing access to the waterfront, minimizing design and construction challenges, and providing the highest benefit-cost ratio." However, critics say that this method does not focus enough on the flooding itself.