Deniz Tek
It may come as a surprise to some, but we have just recently passed the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy making landfall in NYC. When Hurricane Sandy first hit New York it wrecked devastation across its coastline and showed dangerous implications for future natural disasters of that kind. However, looking at the current state of NYC, what has the city done to possible prepare or arm its citizens in defense against another possible disaster like this? The answer is unfortunately quite grim as we see a rise in natural disasters and rising water levels on coastlines around the world.
In the years after recovery from Sandy we see many more people still moving towards houses closer to the coastline as well as high rates of climate change denial despite NYC being known as a hub of liberalism (NY Times). As more houses and apartment complexes are being built on the city’s coastline, the largest difference we see between 10 years ago and now is the installation of more flood resistance to housing like “[placing] mechanicals higher up, often on the roof rather than in basements, where they might be gutted in the next ruinous storm” (NY Times). Although it is good that there is some progress towards protection against future flooding, this is only for newer houses as there is now mandate for these protections for older housing.
The most interesting development with all of this is how there is actually some resistance to creating protection against future hurricanes by residents in the area. This year one of the steps that the city was finally taking to create future protections against rising water levels is the creation of coastal barriers that would hopefully stop future flooding. This included the creation of new jetties across the Rockaway coastline to hopefully break incoming high tides, but much of this construction was met with animosity rather than the expected reaction of relief towards protection for future events. Apparently although these jetties and coastal barriers would stop flooding for a while, it would not be a permanent solution as “New York City facing up to 9.5 feet of sea level rise by the end of this century…. Many of these projects have a design life of just 50 years — and will address just a few feet of rising seawater” (Gothamist). Also in the creation of these non-permanent solutions, there would be an intense environmental impact as well with hundreds of trees being marked to be chopped down to create these barriers. On top of that the proposed construction for the barriers are said to cost up to 50 million dollars.
All of this ultimately begs the question of why do people consistently continue to seek out waterfront houses for up to millions of dollars in worth despite the incessant risks that come from rising water levels and future storms? The answer is pretty simple, people frankly like living by the water too much. As seen in examples in cities like Syracuse proximity to water of any kind seems to increase the value of property in one way or another. Even the simple installation of water features in areas adds the perceived effect of calmness and relaxation. Take the KJ atrium in Hamilton College. Although many students who have access to the Kirner-Johnson building on a daily basis do not even pay much attention to the water feature anymore, it has a lasting affect in the opinion of many on the focus and increase of value of the location as a whole.
It seems that a lot of people do not fear flooding like seen in Sandy, but also see such flooding as an opportunity to tear down old houses for new ones. According to the NY Times in only around 3 years after Sandy many houses were rebuilt with values up to 1.5 million dollars (NY Times). Here the main crux of the problem can be seen which is that climate change is not cared about by some because it only affects the people who cannot afford to rebuild. Climate change has in some part become partly involved in gentrification as people on the more wealthy side are able to take up old houses that are destroyed by the storms and raising their value, pushing those that cannot afford them out.
In the end there does not seem to be a permanent solution that would stop an event like Sandy happening again, and despite this it does not seem like people will stop raising the value of housing on the coast and aiming to live there. New York City itself will most likely survive another event like Sandy, but not without possibly even more losses than Sandy caused. Even after more events like Sandy, there will still be an increase in the coastline value as wealthy people will buy up the space of old destroyed homes to create bigger and more expensive housing in their place and the cycle will go on and on.
Sources:
Barnard, Anne. “A $52 Billion Proposal Aims to Protect New York Harbor from Storm Surges.” The New York Times. The New York Times, September 27, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/26/nyregion/storm-project-new-york-harbor-flooding.html#:~:text=Land%2Dbased%20barriers%2C%20elevated%20promenades,construction%20would%20start%20in%202030.
Bellafante, Ginia. “Why Is New York Still Building on the Waterfront?” The New York Times. The New York Times, October 28, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/28/nyregion/waterfront-building-hurricane-sandy.html?searchResultPosition=3.
Kensinger, Nathan, and Verónica Del Valle. “Coastal Barriers Finally Begin to Rise around NYC – but Can They Stop the next Hurricane Sandy?” Gothamist, October 29, 2022. https://gothamist.com/news/coastal-barriers-finally-begin-rise-nyc-can-they-stop-the-next-hurricane-sandy.
