Audit of New York City’s subway system highlights climate vulnerability, recommends resilience action

Even before Superstorm Sandy flooded New York City’s 100-year-old subway system with stormwater in 2012, the Metropolitan Transit Administration was advised to add resilience to the tunnels and create a climate change mitigation plan. It’s been more than a decade since the historic storm, and few of those directives—which were made in 2009 at the request of the transit organization’s board—have been enacted, according to a new audit published this month by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office.

“In the decade since Superstorm Sandy, weather predicting models have indicated that, with rising sea levels, the range and depth of storm surge will increase across New York City,” the audit says. “With the sea level rise, future storms will flood more property. Transit has experienced flash flooding due to heavy rain, which is harder to predict in terms of coastal flooding.”

Having opened in 1904, New York City’s subway system was designed to ‘breathe’ through many entrances and openings, and to be able to handle only about 2 inches of rainfall. Comparatively, Superstorm Sandy dumped upwards of 7 inches of rain on the region. Hurricane Ida brough with it more than 8 inches of rain in 2021, and at the end of September another 7 inches of rain fell, inundating the tunnels once again.

Flooding events have become a new norm in the northeast in recent years, and the comptroller’s audit flags just how unprepared the subway system is to handle the changing weather. The comptroller’s office notably issued a report last year describing the transit organization’s resilience efforts as “plodding.”

The 2009 directive, issued following a two-year study commissioned by the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s board, predicted these impacts, recommending the organization complete or enact 93 resilience-related capital projects or policies.

“To date, the MTA has not implemented one of the most important recommendations of the 2009 Blue Ribbon Commission’s Report—the development of the climate change adaptation master plan,” the audit reads, noting the organization committed more than $33 billion toward improvement projects between 2010 and 2019, and another $34 billion for 2020 through 2024. Notably, the MTA intends to publish its climate action plan later this year.

Auditors found that “projects were often incomplete in scope of work, not finished on time or within budget, or insufficiently documented. Just two of six critical stations that (New York City) Transit indicated should have been made more watertight and resistant to potential flooding were completed in one project we reviewed,” the audit reads. “Another project was initiated to prevent flood water from entering 14 fan plants; however, only 11 fan plantss were mitigated. Transit officials stated the three remaining fan plants were completed but did not provide documentation to support their statements.”

Documentation of inspections was also lacking. Inspectors documented generalized inspection of rooms, but didn’t note the condition of specific equipment. And while the organization does have winter, hurricane, rain, and extremee heat plans, “we found that these plans were inconsistently activated, with no documentation explaining the rationale for decision making. In our sample of 18 weather events, plans were not activated for six events that included tropical storms, hurricanes, or coastal flooding.”

Among other things, the audit recommends that administrators: make sure future resilience projects are completed on time and within budget; revamp their inspections to identify the condition of specific pieces of equipment; and establish a process to make sure weather information and instructions from leadership is disseminated to all units in the field during an emergency.