Is NYC ready for a second Superstorm Sandy? The comptroller wants to know.
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Flooding in Breezy Point in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Photo courtesy of FEMA.
By Victoria Merlino
Nearly seven years after Superstorm Sandy left parts of New York City — including a large swath of coastal Queens — underwater or destroyed, Comptroller Scott Stringer is asking city government to increase protections for when another “storm of the century” hits.
Stringer sent a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sept. 6 asking him to detail the city’s progress on specific areas of emergency preparedness reforms that Stringer’s previous audits found lacking.
Most of the information Stringer requested focuses on preparedness in NYCHA complexes, including emergency drills at developments and better methods of accounting for residents with disabilities. These questions align with a 2015 audit that found NYCHA “woefully unprepared” for another crisis of Sandy’s size.
Some NYCHA residences were especially hard hit during Sandy, including tenants in the Ocean Bay Houses in Far Rockaway.
Stringer also asked de Blasio about the status of reviewing the post-Sandy “Build it Back” program and explaining the scope of interim flood protection measures in areas like Astoria.
“It’s not a question of whether New York will be hit by another superstorm like Sandy, but when,” Stringer said in a statement. “Yet nearly seven years after Sandy struck, we still haven’t fully recovered and too many New Yorkers remain vulnerable to the next storm.”
“Our city is responsible for mobilizing to protect New Yorkers the minute the next storm strikes and we can’t let NYCHA residents, shorefront communities, or vulnerable New Yorkers suffer because we didn’t learn our lessons from Sandy,” he continued.
Queens in particular could suffer major effects from flooding, storms and the influence of climate change.
Stringer’s May report on the resiliency of New York City’s coastlines flagged areas in Brooklyn and Queens, including beach communities like Rockaway Peninsula and Howard Beach, as monthly flood risks by 2050. Stringer also cited a report by the New York Panel on Climate Change that claimed John F. Kennedy Airport could be submerged underwater by 2100 under certain conditions, due to rising seas.
Queens has over $35.5 billion worth of coastal property, most of any borough beside Manhattan, within floodplain areas. By comparison, Brooklyn has $17.5 billion worth of floodplain property, the Bronx has $6.5 billion and Staten Island has $4.2 billion. Manhattan has $37.9 billion.
In that report, Stringer gave a number of recommendations on strengthening coastal areas’ resilience against storms and flooding, including an optional city buyout program of residents who live in extreme flood zones.
