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In just 48 hours, 44 people were killed, nearly two million New Yorkers lost power, and 6,500 patients were evacuated from hospitals and nursing homes.
New York vowed: never again.
But as climate change threatens to cause more extreme weather, and raise sea levels around coastal cities, “never again” means building ambitious resilience infrastructure along city coastlines.
Fourteen years after Sandy, UN News visited one part of a multi-billion dollar project: the East Side Coastal Resilience Project (ESCR).
Heavy equipment is used in the construction of flood defenses along the East River in New York City.
What’s underneath
North of the Williamsburg Bridge, a white crane lifted a bucket of barges and steered them toward a waiting earthmover. Load after load, East River Park rose 10 feet (three meters).
The park is one link in a chain of flood defenses that stretches along more than three miles (five kilometers) of Manhattan’s waterfront. Created after Hurricane Sandy hit the region in 2012, the East Side Coastal Resilience project and a smaller companion project to the south – worth about $2 billion investment – designed to protect more than 110,000 residents.
“This whole place was flooded,” said Bobby Issac, Assistant Commissioner for Coastal Resilience Construction in the city’s Department of Design and Construction.
During Sandy, he recalled, at least one floor of the public housing block behind him was under water, and residents couldn’t get in or out.
Here, most of the protection is invisible. A flood wall is hidden in the heart of the rebuilt park. At the water’s edge, concrete piles embedded 100 feet (30 m) deep into reclaimed land can hide anything from old docks to the remains of ships.
“What you see above is only a third of what was built,” said Issac.
When a storm approaches, nothing in the park needs to move. Elsewhere along the waterfront, crews will close 18 floodgates, and further south, nearly 100 folding barriers will be installed. The design also provides about 30 inches (76 centimeters) for rising sea levels, he said.
With about 90 percent of the system in place, temporary bottlenecks could close the gap within days before work ends in 2027, he added.
Apart from Sandy
Kathryn Prybylski, New York City Assistant Commissioner of Coastal Resilience Engineering.
In addition to the loss of life, Sandy caused $19 billion in damages, recalled Kathryn Prybylski, Assistant Commissioner of New York City’s Bureau of Coastal Resilience, which will operate the new walls and gates.
“The projects that are being built around town are kind of a reaction to Sandy,” he said. “Now it’s time for us to look to the future.”
The broader picture adds urgency. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the rate of global sea level rise almost double since satellite measurements began in 1993, while warming oceans are fueling more powerful tropical storms.
For a city with 520 miles (840 km) of coastline, the threat is not just the next big storm but also daily tidal waves. Without protective measures, Ms. Prybylski warned that many New Yorkers will face regular tidal flooding in the coming decades.
“If it’s routine, it can be in several locations once a month, twice a month, 10 times a month,” he said. Ultimately, he added, some roads could be flooded every day by high tide – changing the way people get to work and send their children to school.
The tip of the iceberg
New York is just one city facing this threat.
Many neighborhoods in southern Manhattan were flooded when Hurricane Sandy hit New York. (submit)
Nearly 10 percent of the world’s population – around 770 million people – live in coastal areas less than five meters deep (16.4 feet) is above high tide and therefore highly exposed, a recent UN report found.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that “major cities on every continent will face serious impacts” from rising sea levels, and New York is among them.
“[New York’s flood defence project] This is a step forward that should be appreciated. This is also a message to all big cities,” said Navid Hanif, from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). UN News.
“What New York is doing must be recognized, appreciated and imitated in other parts of the world,” he said.
Importantly, while sea level rise primarily threatens infrastructure in high-income cities such as New York, Miami, and Guangzhou in China, it also poses a real threat to communities in low-lying South Asian cities such as Kolkata, Mumbai, and Dhaka.
More than 14 million people in South Asia are at risk of losing their homes due to permanent flooding, while people in Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and other low-lying islands in the Pacific have been forced to evacuate.
Adapt, adapt, adapt
The UN, whose headquarters are less than two miles north of ESCR, is an active partner supporting mitigation and adaptation efforts around the world.
At a recent meeting on sea level rise, Member States adopted the UN Declaration on Sea Level Rise, which was the first time that all Member States agreed on one common text on this issue.
The declaration specifically calls for more predictable and accessible funding for adaptation and resilience, especially for small islands and least developed countries.
New York’s East Side Coastal Resilience Project provides a glimpse into the benefits of such investments for local communities.
Local residents enjoy the newly opened section of the park along the East River in New York City.
At the now elevated East River Park, walkers enjoy riverside walkways overlooking the Brooklyn skyline, as well as landscaped green spaces and community spaces including sports fields, playgrounds and barbecue pits.
“We’re in this park twice a day, every day. We love it! It’s a beautiful example of how climate resilience can help people enjoy their lives,” said Liz, a hiker from the neighborhood walking her dog.
