Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New York on October 29, 2012. It was 900 miles wide, the second largest Atlantic storm on record. Sandy came less than a year after Tropical Storms Irene and Lee devastated interior areas of New York with a deluge of rain. More than 18 inches of rainfall were recorded in the Catskill Mountain area during Irene.
Although Sandy did not bring heavy rains, the impacts of its storm surge were wide-ranging. The 9-foot storm surge came on top of a high tide, which was more than a foot higher than a century ago due to sea level rise. At 14 feet, it was the highest storm surge ever recorded in New York. The surge flooded subways, homes, and businesses in New York City, and continued up the southern stretch of the Hudson River, wreaking havoc in low-lying communities. In New York, the storm caused 53 deaths, destroyed more than 300,000 homes, and resulted in $32 billion in losses.
Sandy and Irene aren't New York's most recent storms. Just last year, Hurricane Ida caused $7.5 billion in damages and killed 17 people in New York State. According to Climate Central, the United States now "experiences a one-billion-dollar weather disaster every 18 days on average, compared to one every 82 days in the 1980s."
These storms are intensified by climate change. They arrive on higher seas and grow bigger and stronger thanks to our warmer, wetter atmosphere. It is estimated that climate change increases precipitation during storms by 10-15%.
Fortunately, New York State provides myriad resources and funding opportunities to help communities build climate resilience and prepare for major storms. These include the NYS Climate Smart Communities Certification program, the Community Risk and Resiliency Act (CRRA), and the nation's most ambitious climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Resilient NY helps communities understand their flood risks at a watershed scale by providing engineering assessments and using community knowledge of local flooding to develop strategies to minimize these hazards.
Climate-Adaptive Communities in the Hudson River Valley
Since the storms in 2011 and 2012, DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program has been helping communities plan for future flooding and sea level rise along the tidal Hudson River and its tributaries. The Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda 2021-2025 establishes a vision for Hudson River Valley communities as thriving, resilient models for adapting to climate change using natural, nature-based, and socially equitable solutions.
Through partnerships, funding, policy development, education, and technical assistance, the Estuary Program helps local governments adapt to environmental risks, including intense precipitation, sea level rise, heat, and drought. Grants and technical assistance funded by the State's Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) support habitat and tributary restoration, protection of wetlands, flood plains, and forests, resilience of river access sites, and river education.
Building Adaptive Capacity Across Our Communities
Resilience is deepened when communities come together to tackle common environmental hazards. The Estuary Program and partner organizations Hudson River Watershed Alliance, Scenic Hudson, NY Sea Grant, and the Consensus Building Institute convene the Flood Resilience Network, a group of local municipal leaders from 21 riverfront communities to discuss current and future flood risk. In 2022, the network met in person for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The City of Hudson hosted a meeting of the members and provided a tour of the waterfront resilience projects under consideration.
The Estuary Program also provides funding for the Climate Resilience Partnership of Cornell Cooperative Extensions (CCEs). Across six counties, the CCEs partner with local municipalities to complete Climate Smart Communities resilience actions and certification. In 2022, CCEs helped 17 communities complete 18 resilience actions and assisted 8 communities to become Climate Smart Certified. Resilience actions include culvert management plans, flood guides, incorporating resilience into comprehensive planning, and more.
Unfortunately, flooding isn't the only climate risk in the Hudson Valley. Extreme heat and short-term drought are becoming increasingly prevalent. The Estuary Program participated in the NYS Extreme Heat Working Group of 22 state agencies to develop actions for immediate implementation to help prepare communities for a heat emergency and address acute heat-related impacts and needs.
Helping Communities Envision Their Future
The Climate-Adaptive Design (CaD) Studio links graduate students in landscape architecture with high flood-risk Hudson Riverfront communities to explore design alternatives for more climate resilient and connected waterfronts using natural and nature-based solutions. In 2022, Tarrytown was selected through an open application process to host the CaD Studio. Community stakeholders are engaged throughout the studio to help inform the design process and support more usable results for the municipality. Implementable design projects are underway in the City of Hudson and Town and Village of Ossining, through Design Advancement (Phase II) funding. Since 2014, nine resilient waterfront design concepts and four implementable design projects have been completed.
Categories: New York, General, Rural Lifestyle