Hurricane Ida’s record-setting rainfall reveals challenges in retrofitting New York’s aging subway system
On Wednesday, flash flood advisories were hoisted throughout the East Coast. Meteorologists warned of extreme rainfall and the potential for flooding as the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, which made landfall in New Orleans on Sunday, swept across the already water-saturated region. Even so, Thursday’s catastrophic flooding of the New York City metropolitan area seemed to take many by surprise. It shouldn’t have. For decades now, climate scientists have warned of increasingly severe floods (particularly on the East Coast) as the planet warms. In a 2007 analysis of the New York subway system’s resiliency by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, for example, it’s noted that […]
