Sandy Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg, and NYC May Be the Titanic

Although still being measured, the damage superstorm Sandy inflicted upon New York was clearly historic. But the stunning conclusion reached by Richard Barone of the Regional Planning Association, is that "[i]t can get a lot worse than this."

2 minute read

October 31, 2012, 5:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj

While being careful not to appear to be fearmongering, Barone is blunt in his assessment that although Sandy was "a significant event" that "there could be worse storms." And it's clear to experts, designers, and colleagues of reporter Dana Rubinstein, that New York City hasn't done enough to "prepare for the effects of the climate change that's already underway."

"Bloomberg earlier today wasn't willing to attribute the storm surges to climate change," says Rubinstein, "likely for fear of creating an unnecessary political issue by engaging climate-change deniers," or perhaps exhibiting his administration's "lack a sense of urgency about this," identified by Douglas Hill, an engineer with the Storm Surge Research Group at Stony Brook University.

"But Governor Andrew Cuomo went right ahead and said it, just about."

"Going forward, I think we do have to anticipate these extreme types of weather patterns," said Cuomo. "And we have to start to think about how do we redesign the system so this doesn't happen again. After what happened, what has been happening in the last few years, I don't think anyone can sit back anymore and say 'Well, I'm shocked at that weather pattern.'

"There is no weather pattern that can shock me at this point. And I think that has to be our attitude. And how do we redesign our system and our infrastructure assuming that?"

FULL STORY: 'There could be worse': What New York isn't doing (yet) about the next

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 in Capital

Environment Infrastructure New York Climate Change New York City Mayor Bloomberg adaptation Governor Andrew Cuomo View More

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