Just before Halloween in 2012 , Hurricane Sandy climbed up the East Coast and pummeled New York City and the Jersey shoring . Thestorm ’s destructionshut off power for millions , knock out parts of the underground system , and inundated coastal communities with a14 - foot storm heave .
“ Sandy was definitely that first heavy wake up call , where a band of citizenry learn that the train that they want to take was out of service for , in some display case , over a week , ” said Kara Gurl , research and communication associate for the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA . “ [ It ] really highlighted the need to be proactive with resiliency . ”
The mending took years , and local agencies were forced to swivel to clime - conscious metropolis provision . ocean storey ascension stopped being a considerateness for the distant time to come , and the area is now constellate with photoflood wall project .
A man walks by the remains of part of the historic Rockaway boardwalk in New York City after large parts of it were washed away during Hurricane Sandy on 31 December 2024.Photo: Spencer Platt (Getty Images)
The post-storm trail of destruction
17 % of New York City ’s entire farming mass was glut , much of it throughout Brooklyn , low Manhattan , and coastal Queens . All eight metro tunnels in the MTA organisation flooded ; the South Ferry Station at the very bottom of Manhattan was shutter foralmost five yearsfor across-the-board repairs . The East River tube tunnel , which connects Brooklyn to Manhattan via the L caravan , was damage by the mordant salt pee that swamp it during the storm surge ; it was n’t completely restore until 2020 , for a price of about $ 500 million , fit in toCurbed NY .
Gurl take note that some of the delay in the mending for the subway system occurred because train readiness are usually veracious by the beach or a river . “ The Coney Island thou is all the agency in Coney Island , right up against another trunk of body of water , ” she said . “ They were completely flooded , and that damaged the yards themselves but also a lot of the subway train and other important MTA equipment that was locate in those grand . ”
Green distance throughout the city were wrecked , too . Emily Maxwell , the director of city atThe Nature Conservancy , a world environmental meshwork based in New York , said that wildlife areas in and around the city needed assist to recover from Sandy , something that ’s often overlooked when discussing the storm ’s toll . TheJamaica Bay Wildlife Refugeis one of the largest razzing habitats in the Northeast . When the storm hit southern Brooklyn during the high lunar time period , the freshwater ponds were mixed into piquant , brackish water . Many of the industrial plant species in the park are not flowage resistant or can not endure when disclose to a mint of piquant water .
“ We come across a batch of die back , peculiarly big beautiful trees like birch trees , ” Maxwell said . “ We also witness a existent inflow of invasive specie … especially with invasive vine , not only are they not eminent - quality habitat or food for thought for wildlife , they also can sort of twine around and choke out other existing undecomposed vegetation . So it becomes a bit of a vicious cycle . ”
Many New York City ’s hospitals are located right by the body of water . BothConey Island Hospitalin Brooklyn andBellevue Hospitalin Manhattan receive exponent outages , and aesculapian professional had to relocate patients so they could receive adequate concern in the calendar week following the storm .
Years of upgrades
During the Sandy recovery exertion , the MTA made pregnant system update to prepare for next storms and implosion therapy upshot , Jamie Torres - Springer , the chairwoman of MTA construction and development said during a citizens committee meeting . This has included quicker water removal systems andtesting photoflood barriersover subway entry to keep as much water out of the cartroad as potential .
“ We ’re not just pop off in and recovering and cast back what was there . We ’re taking the opportunity to do extra work in strategical ways , ” Torres - Springer said . “ We ’ve taken a wide lens to comprehensively protect each of the 31 stations that fall within the category 2 hurricane flood lamp zone . ”
The Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge has also been retrofit to hold uttermost haste and flooding . Because the storm lave away and damage so much of the plant liveliness in the reticence , the Conservancy start out put in flood - resistive shrubs and trees , like oak and pine .
“ We know that in purchase order to have an urban forest that thrives into the future , our plants and trees along the coast are sound to want to be more patient of of salty grunge and standing urine , ” Maxwell said . “ We see that Modern timberland canopy is begin to number in and prosper . ”
Maxwell acknowledged that it may take years to see the full growth of the newfangled salt- and flood - resistant greenery . But so far , the plants are thriving .
The future of climate change in NYC
Agencies throughout the metropolis hustle for yr to become amply functional in the ten after Sandy . But recovery has not been just . The Coney Island biotic community was devastated after the storm hit during the mellow tide . But , despite being right by the water and in the course of next flooding , more than 2,000 housing units have been impart to the area since 2012,The City reported . Only 19 house in the residential district were elevated through the city ’s Build It Back program .
New York City is now dotted with outpouring wall projects that look for to protect its many shorelines . The city is operate on erecting a $ 1.45 billion system of walls and sluice valve to protect from succeeding flooding and sea spirit level wage hike . The system was established by theEast Coast Resiliency Project , and building began in the drop of 2020 and will continue until 2026 . The project also assay to upgrade New York ’s decade - former sewer system , so that it will have the capacity to manage especially heavy rainfall .
Other projects have focus on critical position like hospital , including the Bellevue Hospital campus in Manhattan . Workers broke soil on a$120 million projectin May , funded by FEMA . It will include an upgrade storm water pumping system to stop water from damaging the aesculapian campus , as well as a floodlight wall that reach up to 12 feet high-pitched to protect the hospital from violent storm surge .
A rebuilt Coney Island Hospital , to be name the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital , will feature a 2nd floor emergency elbow room to annul inundation , along with backup power systems that are inundation resistant enough to hopefullywithstand a 500 - twelvemonth storm .
Gurl say that she conceive Sandy was ultimately the Northeast ’s awaken up call to the reality of climate variety . Extreme weather and ocean level boost are come about now — which think of the resolution want to come now , too .
SandyWeather
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
tidings from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
