New York City to Wrestle With Climate Change Flooding

If you look back to 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, that is the event that exposed the dangers of sea-level rise to New York City and its surrounding areas.

Since then, I’ve written about how lower density areas along our nation’s coasts need to retreat from the shoreline. It is only in a few places that trying to build protection against rising seas makes any sense at all. New York City and Manhattan is one of them.

It has taken 11 years, but now the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has produced a plan, see this New York Times opinion piece: “The Plan to Save New York From the Next Sandy Will Ruin the Waterfront. It Doesn’t Have To.” (Yes, there is a paywall.)

Most people want waterfront property. I just spoke to a woman this morning (not in NYC) about where she lives and she loves it, 14 feet from the water — and that carries with it some risks.

I don’t have the solution everyone is looking for, but I can tell you that many areas of our coastline will be having more waterfront properties in the coming years. Debate it all you want. Just think about doing something before the next big event — that is my contribution to the discussion.