Rising Seas and Stronger Storms Threaten New York City

Global warming could substantially raise sea levels around New York City over the next century and put the Big Apple at greater risk of being flooded by hurricane waves, a new computer model predicts.

Sea level around the city could jump 15 to 19 inches by 2050 and by more than three feet by 2080, according to the model.

“With sea levels at these higher levels, flooding by major storms would inundate many low-lying neighborhoods and shut down the entire metropolitan transportation system with much greater frequency,” said study team member Vivien Gornitz of
NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University in New York.

Hurricane risk

While rare, hurricanes have hit New York City before. The strongest was a Category 4 hurricane at its peak in the Caribbean, which made landfall at Jamaica Bay on Sept. 3, 1821 with a 13-foot storm surge that flooded much of lower Manhattan.

LiveScience.com