New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg outlined a far-reaching plan on Tuesday, June 11 to protect the city from the threat of rising sea levels and powerful storm surges by building an extensive network of flood walls, levees and bulkheads along its 520 miles of coast, The New York Times reported.
The mayor said the plan would initially cost about $20 billion, and eventually far more. The city would spend the money on fortifying infrastructure like the power grid, renovating buildings to withstand hurricanes and defending the shore, according to a 438-page report on the proposals.
“This plan is incredibly ambitious — and much of the work will extend far beyond the next 203 days — but we refused to pass the responsibility for creating a plan onto the next administration,” he said in a speech at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. “This is urgent work, and it must begin now.”
The report details 250 recommendations, including the installation of flood walls and other measures to protect some of the areas that were hit worst by the hurricane in October.
The administration said that roughly half of the currently estimated $20 billion cost over the next decade would come from federal and city money that has already been allocated. An additional $5 billion would be covered by aid that Congress has already approved. Most of that money was allotted, through a variety of programs, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, according to the report.
Bloomberg said that the price tag was high, but that the cost of not taking action would be higher. Hurricane Sandy caused $19 billion in damage and loss of economic activity for the city, he said, and if a similar storm were to strike three decades from now, the cost could be $90 billion.
Officials estimated that more than 800,000 city residents would live in the 100-year flood plain by the 2050s — more than double the 398,000 currently at risk, based on new maps released by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The number of days with temperatures above 90 degrees is expected to jump sharply.
Environmental and business groups largely praised Mr. Bloomberg’s initiative, though some experts questioned whether the city needed to consider evacuating some areas.
By 2050, sea levels could be 12 to 29 inches higher, according to the plan. By 2080, they could be about 55 inches higher. Those estimates have been revised upward recently.
