New York City is a mess right now
Con Edison intentionally cut power to tens of thousands of people in
an effort to protect equipment from rising flood waters. But the
flooding was more extensive than expected.
“We were expecting tides at 10 to 12 feet,” Mr. Miksad said. “Not
only did we exceed those tides, we went up to 14-foot levels, which no
one expected,” he said.
What should they have expected?
Unlike New Orleans, New York City is above sea level. Yet the city is
second only to New Orleans in the number of people living less than four
feet above high tide — nearly 200,000 New Yorkers, according to the
research group
Climate Central.
The waters on the city’s doorstep have been rising roughly an inch a
decade over the last century as oceans have warmed and expanded. But
according to scientists advising the city, that rate is accelerating,
because of environmental factors, and levels could rise two feet higher
than today’s by midcentury. More frequent flooding is expected to become
an uncomfortable reality.
With higher seas, a common storm could prove as damaging as the rare big
storm or hurricane is today, scientists say. Were sea levels to rise
four feet by the 2080s, for example, 34 percent of the city’s streets
could lie in the
flood-risk zone, compared with just 11 percent now, a 2011 study commissioned by the state said.