Community Corner

Brooklyn, Queens Have Most to Lose as Climate Changes

Outer boroughs at risk as sea levels rise, new city initiative discovers.

This article was written by Matt Hampton.

If you're planning on sticking around in the city for a few years, you may want to pick up some sunscreen. And a poncho. And some scuba gear. 

New York City's Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency revealed their post-Sandy report this week, and the news is startling.

Among the revelations? That New York City could be subject to days-long heat waves and rainstorms of heretofore unknown intensity by the end of the decade, according to published reports.

Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway and Initiative Director Seth Pinsky didn't mince words on New York's hot, soggy future, revealing that Bloomberg's administration expects the city's average temperature to rise by three degrees — and its precipitation to increase by a whopping 10 percent by 2020.

The goal of the initiative was to identify problems that occurred with the city's infrastructure and storm preparedness during Superstorm Sandy, and to look at the kinds of problems that are likely to arise in the future. 

The report found that Brooklyn and Queens were the boroughs most likely to face significant, intense tidal flooding as a result of sea level rise over the next four decades.

By 2050, researchers found that 14 percent of Queens and 10 percent of Brooklyn could be at serious risk.

For more information, check out the report at the New York Daily News here, and the New York Times here.


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