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Oceanography Expert Predicts NYC "Flood Days"
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 11, 2011
Modified Feb 11, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 11, 2011
Modified Feb 11, 2011
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Many of those new condos popping up along the East River in Williamsburg were struggling to find buyers after the economic collapse, but buildings like The Edge are reporting a recent surge in sales, and real estate brokers tell the Brooklyn Paper that happy days are here again. But if you're buying along the waterfront, you may want to make sure your building offers perks like complimentary gondola service and free speedboat rentals, because some experts say parts of Williamsburg and other low-lying areas will soon be submerged with alarming frequency.
In this portentous WNYC segment, Malcolm Bowman, an oceanography professor from Stony Brook University in Long Island, predicts that as climate change brings more violent storms to the area, we can look forward to parts of NYC being paralyzed by "flood days," the way we now have snow days. "Straight across the river, we could expect the FDR Drive to be underwater," Bowman predicts. "We would expect the water lapping around Wall Street. We could see vital infrastructure, hospitals, sewage treatment plants, communication conduits all paralyzed by flooding with seawater, which is very corrosive.”
Bowman is urging the city to build storm surge barriers at Throgs Neck, where Long Island Sound and the East River meet, and at the opening to the lower harbor between the Rockaways and Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The barriers would, at their highest points, be 30 feet above the harbor surface and close during severe storms. And residents at waterfront condos like The Edge might have to be relocated! "We will have to densify the high-lying areas and use the low-lying areas as parks and buffer zones," Bowman predicts.
For now, the Bloomberg administration—which rezoned parts of the Brooklyn waterfront to encourage the high-rise condo developments—is focused on preparing for the so-called "100-year storms" arriving every 15 to 35 years. But Klaus Jacob, a Columbia University research scientist, warns, "What is now the impact of a 100-year storm will be, by the end of this century, roughly a 10-year storm." Of course, long before that time comes, the current condo dwellers at The Edge will have retired to the suburbs, so they're probably not sweating it.
Tagged
climate change
condos
flooding
global warming
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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