Seven months after Hurricane Sandy, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, unveiled a ambitious project to better protect the city and its some 800 km of coastline against the effects of climate change, at an estimated cost of nearly $ 20 billion.
“Our city will be in the coming years more vulnerable to flooding”, launched Michael Bloomberg at a press conference, referring in particular “the rise in temperatures and the level of the oceans”.
By 2050, 800,000 New Yorkers will live in flood plains, which will cover a quarter of the city’s area of 8.3 million people, he said. “Sandy cost $ 19 billion […] but a similar storm in 2050 could cost $ 90 billion “, he added.
ANTI-FLOOD WALLS
Mr Bloomberg advocated the construction of a series of removable flood walls in lower Manhattan, the strengthening or creation of dunes along the most exposed coasts in Staten Island, Brooklyn and in the Rockaways (Queens) and the creation of dikes and other protective devices in particularly vulnerable places. Some may, according to him, be up to 6 meters high, and fit into raised projects.
New York has some 835 km of coastline, and Bloomberg has said there is no question of abandoning them, as millions have been spent on revitalizing them in recent years. Some 400,000 people already live in risk areas, representing 270,000 jobs, he said.
“Some of the protections for coastal areas may be controversial. Some may block the view, he said. But the alternative is to be inundated, or worse. […] If we are to save lives and protect our communities, we are going to have to live with new realities. “
60 CM SEA RISE IN 2050
Mr Bloomberg’s recommendations are part of a 438-page report released Tuesday, which includes analyzes by a group of scientists studying for the city the effects of climate change. In 2009, these scientists estimated that the waters around New York could rise 5 to 12 cm by 2020. They are now talking about 10 to 20 cm, and 30 cm to 60 cm in 2050; 8% of the coastal zone could then be regularly inundated, simply by the tide.
The temperature in 2050 could exceed 32 ° C, 57 days a year in New York, against 18 days currently. Some extreme storms could generate a sudden rise in water levels of almost 6 meters, surpassing the record of 4.2 m set by Sandy.
Hurricane Sandy, which hit the east coast of the United States in late October 2012, killed 43 people in New York. It had flooded part of Manhattan, deprived of electricity for several days in the south of the island and several other districts of New York, and destroyed many homes along the coasts. It had also crippled transportation, created a fuel shortage, and made telephones inoperative in some areas.
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