They’ve had extreme rains under Hurricane Ida.
Extreme storm surge under Sandy.
Could the city handle a climate enhanced storm that delivered both?
Adaptation will be slow, and horrendously expensive.
They’ve had extreme rains under Hurricane Ida.
Extreme storm surge under Sandy.
Could the city handle a climate enhanced storm that delivered both?
Adaptation will be slow, and horrendously expensive.
IMO, the biggest problem for coastal cities is that they will start adaptation projects that cost a lot while at the same time not being sufficient for any but the most optimistic scenarios and timelines (the cost of a seawall, for example, rises nonlinearly with height, meaning budgeteers will push back). They’ll end up with Manhattan’s “big U” problem: sea walls that aren’t quite high enough to hold back the sea, often adding the problem of blocking runoff. As the flooding threat increases, Haves can afford to flee, property values drop, along with municipal property tax revenue.