Climate change: This Palm Beach County business is front and center in fighting flooding

The company designed and installed a flood-proof glass enclosed elevator entrance for the New York City Subway's Cortlandt station at the World Trade Center.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has used several contractors to flood-proof its systems, and mentions climate change in a recent announcement about closing the Coney Island Yard for upgrades.

"With intense weather events like Superstorm Sandy expected to occur more often, we need to act now to protect this vital part of our system, so we can keep trains running safely," the announcement stated.

##youtube_1## Savannah Trims' single biggest contract -- about $3.2 million -- has been protecting train depots and utility rooms for New Jersey Transit.

"There is very little we won't tackle," Kennedy said.

High school basement flooded with turtles and fish

Joseph Cahill, director of risk management for the Diocese of Trenton, N.J., said Savannah Trims has done several jobs for him, including flood-proofing a high school that wasn't in a FEMA flood zone but saw significant Sandy damage.

"The basement and sub-basement were full of water up to about 13 feet," Cahill said. "There were turtles and fish and everything else under the sun in it."

Cahill said the diocese considered flood-proofing before Sandy rolled through but "it just wasn't as high on the priority list as it should have been."

Climate scientists are predicting the most severe kinds of hurricanes will happen more often as the world warms. That includes storms with flooding rains, escalating intensities and swollen storm surge riding on rising seas.

High-tide records were set in South Florida

Even without a hurricane, coastal tidal flooding is overwhelming streets from Maryland to South Beach when the moon or winds cause higher tides.

At least 10 days in November set high-tide records at Virginia Key near Miami as the full moon and and a nor'easter combined to plump coastal waters, according to Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate for the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Sunny day flooding today on Flagler in West Palm Beach. The regular inundation of brackish Intracoastal water has turned the grass in the swale brown. @NWSMiami pic.twitter.com/kKipjWwWw6

-- Kimberly Miller (@KMillerWeather) November 18, 2019

"There's absolutely more awareness to the flooding," Cahill said.

Only a handful of companies nationwide are in the business of building significant flood control structures, Kennedy said.

One of his competitors, Adam Goldberg of the New Jersey-based Aquafence USA, agreed.

"There are about five of us in the space," Goldberg said. "Business has definitely grown and changed."

Kennedy said his business has increased 70 percent since 2018, requiring contracts with three new engineering firms and an increase in space from 4,800 square feet to 23,000.

"This whole thing keeps evolving," he said. "Every project we do is a new exercise in engineering."

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