
Despite high-risk flood zones in Midtown, residents and business owners might be unaware of the potential danger, as storms become more intense due to climate change, experts say.
“The reality is that a lot of these maps have changed, and are changing because of climate change,” said Christopher Kocher, a natural disaster advocate and co-founder of Extreme Weather Survivors, a nonprofit that helps survivors of extreme weather events.
“Even if you looked 10 years ago, your flood plain or your exposure to risk from flooding may have changed even over the past 10 months,” he said.
Flood maps show Midtown as a high-risk area, particularly near the Hudson and East Rivers. According to data collected by First Street, a climate risk firm, Midtown has an extreme risk of flooding over the next 30 years. Environmentalists are stressing the need for the city to better prepare people about the growing threat to their neighborhood.
Adam Nayak, a Ph.D student in environmental engineering at Columbia University, said the absence of recent flooding in Midtown this season doesn’t mean the risk has diminished. “It definitely would still be a pressing issue,” Nayak said, adding that people tend to forget about instances of impact within five or six years. “The risk is only increasing, especially for coastal flooding and storm surge impacts.”
A collaborative effort among scientists, engineers, government entities and other key groups is needed to address the risks effectively, added Nayak. “We have these potentially better tools, but we also need to adapt those tools to understand the system constraints we’re working with.”
The city’s subway system is also a source of concern, he said. “MTA pumps millions of gallons of water out of the subway daily.”
Manhattan’s subway system is particularly vulnerable to flooding due to its older infrastructure, which was designed to handle only two inches of rainfall. Hurricane Ida, the 2021 storm that surpassed the city’s record for the most single-hour rainfall, brought up to eight inches of rain and overwhelmed the system.
Approximately one-fifth of subway entrances are at risk during severe weather, according to the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit that works on environmental and quality of life issues for the New York metropolitan area. Despite flood-proofing efforts, the MTA still faces frequent service disruptions.
“As the weather is changing, storms are more quickly intensifying. That means the impacts are stronger,” Kosher said. “People have less time to evacuate or prepare for the storm, and all those things have really serious life and death consequences, not to mention the economic impact.”
Jane Polyard, who lives in Lower Manhattan, said she experienced severe effects of water damage firsthand during a flood last September. “I just think our building wasn’t equipped to handle that much rain…the water got in through the roof,” she said.
“I’m glad that I had insurance,” she said, adding that she had to fight to get her claim approved and still had expenses. “I had to get a new mattress and some new furniture that ended up being a few thousand dollars.”
The city has a role in “raising awareness about the broader impacts from climate change and extreme weather, so that people are aware of the risks they’re facing,” said Kocher.