New York City has declared a state of emergency. With the extreme amounts of rainfall, a number of subway systems, streets, and highways have flooded. On X (formerly Twitter), Governer of New York Kathy Hochul declared the state of emergency spanning across New York City, Long Island, and the Hudson Valley. With the 14 inches of rain, the event has been the most recorded amount of rainfall in September since 1882.
Displayed by the flash flooding, "'The reality staring city leaders in the face, including in places like New York, is that the climate is getting more extreme, more unpredictable and requiring more investment,' said Joseph Kane, a fellow who focuses on infrastructure at the Brookings Institute" (NBC). With the warmer atmosphere, more water vapor is capable of being stored in the sky. In result, the climate becomes more intense and as stated, unpredictable. Displayed by the current conditions of New York, they are unable to control the extreme flooding. Unless action is taken, this can have an extremely negative effect on the future safety of lives and infrastructure. "'Heavy rainstorms like the one we are seeing today are becoming our new normal as climate change intensifies' - Louise Yeung, Chief Climate Officer of the New York City Comptroller's Office" (NBC). Thankfully, though there were no casualties, the dangerous flooding should be taken as a warning to immediately start taking action for flooding countermeasures. In New York City, there are a number of impermeable surfaces in many of the highly urbanized areas in addition to the outdated stormwater management systems. Solutions such as permeable pavement or additional green areas can become the first step towards preparing for future storms.
In addition to flooding, New York City is also dealing with another major problem. Between 2016 and 2023, NASA has been using a interferometric synthetic aperature radar (InSAR) to observe the vertical land motion of New York City over time. The results came out that the area was sinking at an average of 1.6 millimeters per year. Some of the vertical movement is caused by human activity. In Queens, where the U.S. Open is held, developing upon landfills causes sinking hotspots. Similar connections between landfills and hotspots can also be seen through Governors Island and Rikers Island. With the land sinking ever so slightly along with the sea level rising, further data scoping the future of New York City can be used to plan for more safety precautions.
- Aidan Ogasawara
Sources:https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66965396
https://www.space.com/new-york-city-sinking-rising-flooding
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/nyc-flooding-climate-change-infrastructure-limitations-rcna118170
5 comments:
I agree that natural disasters like these seem to be the new normal as climate change escalates. A similar situation is bound to happen in Florida as well, which is currently on flood watch in parts of the state. Flooding is a national issue, and apparently kills more people than tornadoes or hurricanes annually. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the number of floods in the United States has increased greatly since the 1950s, and the impact of them in the present day is apparent, given their destructive and society-halting nature. I think tackling climate change in general should be at the forefront of the policy agenda because of its extreme and destructive long term implications that cannot be reversed or changed.
I think even just observing the way that the Bay Area inevitably deals with power outages during the summer, it is apparent that the US in general needs to implement better infrastructure to deal with better. Especially as climate change takes its toll, and the weather gets more extreme, the already strained infrastructure will only cause more problems, and things like repairing flooded subway systems, streets, and highways every rainy season will prove to be much more expensive than simply improving the infrastructure one time. Hopefully, like you said, the events in New York will serve as a wake-up call and NYC will implement better infrastructure rather than waiting for something even more disastrous.
I agree with your opinion that New York City, and likely many other American cities, must do more to protect citizens from the adverse effects of climate change. I currently live in Foster City, which is only about 7 feet above sea level, and much like New York City, is currently sinking into the ground. In order to address the increasing threat posed by climate change, citizens have agreed to pay increased taxes so as to fund expansions to our levee. This expanded levee guarantees that Foster City will be able to endure up to 4 feet of sea level rise without flooding. I am lucky to live in a very environmentally conscious community, where people are willing to take quick action to respond to the effects of climate change. However, many other Americans see climate change as a partisan issue, preventing them from taking action or even recognizing its existence. I think it is clear that Americans from both sides of the aisle must come together to implement drastic environmental policies in order to protect the future of our nation and its people.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2021/san-francisco-bay-area-sea-level-rise-2021/foster-city
Expanding levees and updating infrastructure with more permeable surfaces and green spaces to handle more rainfall is important, and something every city should implement to mitigate the effects of climate change, but I think the focus needs to be on addressing the problem of climate change. Once sinking ground is developed and inhabited, there isn't a way to stop it from sinking that doesn't involve tearing down all the buildings. Also, despite best efforts, levees can break and storm drains can clog. I think this needs to be seen as a call to cut carbon emissions and capture what is already in the atmosphere more than anything else.
As others state, adaptation to infrastructure prevails to be a very important step in preventing such situations, however with the constant occurrences of these events, larger steps need to be taken, such as how Alexandra mentions decarbonizing. After Hurricane Ida, New York had been very set, although wary of money, to improve infrastructure through changes with draining, plants, and tanks/barriers. This disaster had occurred in 2021, and since then, there has been immense environmentalist and civic group movements to urge action, but even the improvements being made so far, have evidently proved to be nowhere near sufficient. As mentioned by Konstantinos, environmental policies must be prioritized to truly begin minimizing such dangers. Both the state and federal government must cooperate to meet these ends. However, we have seen frequent conflict between this with, for example, Montana passing House Bill 971 which prevents weighing climate impacts in state environmental reviews, clearly a backward step.
Sources:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/montanas-new-law-banning-climate-impact-reviews-sparks/story?id=99567915
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