Tuesday, June 11, 2013

New York Flooding Predictions



http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/nyc-mayor-worries-about-warming-world-20130611
NEW YORK -- The projections paint an unsettling picture of New York's future: A city where by the2050s, 800,000 people could be living in a flood zone that would cover a quarter of the land, and there could be as many 90-degree days as is now normal for Birmingham, Ala.
Facing those new projections of the effects of global warming on the nation's biggest city, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was due to talk Tuesday about what to do about risks that Superstorm Sandy brought into stark relief.
"We have to look ahead and anticipate any and all future threats, not only from hurricanes and other coastal storms but also from droughts, heavy downpours and heat waves - many of which are likely to be longer and more intense in the years to come," an excerpt from the mayor's planned speech says.
Two top Bloomberg aides who oversaw the study underlying the speech, Seth Pinsky and Deputy Mayor Caswell Holloway, wouldn't hint Monday at what the suggestions would be, what they might cost or how they might be financed. Many key decisions likely will come after Bloomberg's third and final term ends this year.
Bloomberg said last winter the study would examine the pros and cons of building berms, dunes, levees and other coast-protection structures. But he has historically been cool to the idea of massive sea walls - and emphatic about not suggesting that people retreat from coastal communities.

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