Almost 15 years after Hurricane Sandy devastated New York City, the Brooklyn Navy Yard hasn’t totally recovered. But millions of federal dollars, secured this year by local congress members, are expected to restore the Navy Yard to its “pre-disaster” self.
U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, alongside U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez, announced on Friday that the facility will receive more than $28 million in FEMA funding to replace damaged boilers and fuel tanks and fortify new and existing infrastructure against future storms.
“Hurricane Sandy decimated parts of our city and infrastructure, including at the Brooklyn Navy Yard,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “This federal funding will be essential to ensuring that the Brooklyn Navy Yard has the needed resources like boilers and fuel tanks to operate at full capacity. I am proud to deliver these funds and will continue to work to ensure that New York City is prepared for future extreme weather events.”
When Hurricane Sandy hit Brooklyn in October 2012, the Navy Yard — a 300-acre campus on the edge of the East River — was flooded with up to six feet of water. The flooding resulted in $100 million in damages, per the Navy Yard’s website. That included ruined equipment, including motors, electrical infrastructure, plumbing, insulation, and control instruments for the steam boilers and fuel tanks in Building 41A.
While the Navy Yard was able to resume operations fairly quickly after the storm, it has been using the damaged equipment since then.
Several electrical substations were also damaged in the storm, a Brooklyn Navy Yard rep added, as was waterfront infrastructure like piers and bulkheads — and the integrity of several of the Navy Yard’s more than century-old buildings was threatened.
The coastal campus is also particularly vulnerable to extreme storms driven by climate change, said Navy Yard president and CEO Lindsay Greene in a statement,
“This federal award will help us restore and modernize campus infrastructure that was badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy and will catalyze short-term projects identified in our Resilience Strategy to protect the Navy Yard against the effects of climate change,” Greene said. “We are deeply grateful to Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand and Representative Velázquez for this $28.7 million award and their continued steadfast leadership in protecting Brooklyn’s economy and people.”
The Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Resilience Strategy outlines short and long-term projects meant to defend the campus against future storms, since climate change is expected to produce more frequent, more severe storms. In September 2021, Hurricane Ida caused severe flooding at the Yard, and several businesses there were flooded by Hurricane Ophelia in 2023.
Short-term projects include elevating equipment and workstations, building with flood-resistant materials, adding deployable flood barriers to protect buildings, and protecting electrical and HVAC systems. Some Sandy-related repairs are already underway, a Navy Yard rep told Brooklyn Paper, but the new funding will allow them to “kick the effort into high-gear.”
Schumer, Gillibrand, and Velázquez have previously secured millions of federal dollars for Sandy recovery at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, including $1.6 million for docks and berths in 2016, and $4.8 million for substation and dock repairs in 2016.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard had received at least $98 million in Sandy-related federal funding as of 2022, according to a report by the NYC Comptroller, but had only spent about $5 million. It received $18.4 million in 2022, the report states, after assessments found more damage than had been allocated for in the original FEMA grants. But Schumer, in a statement, said the $28 million grant should “finally restore the Brooklyn Navy Yard to its pre-disaster condition.”
Update: This story previously stated the funding would be used in part to repair the Brooklyn Navy Yard Cogeneration station in Building 41. Upon publication of this story, the Brooklyn Navy Yard was able to clarify that the funding was granted only for Building 41A, not Building 41, where the Cogeneration station is located.
