Underwater
Louisiana isn’t the only state getting ravaged by Hurricane Ida. The storm’s leftovers produced flash floods that killed at least 22 people in New York and New Jersey on Wednesday night, highlighting vulnerabilities in New York City’s infrastructure to climate-related severe weather.
The huge volumes of rain that poured in a relatively short period of time overwhelmed NYC’s public transportation system, infrastructure, roads, bridges and more. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said, “What really took a toll was three and a half inches of rain fell in one hour.”
I’ve seen videos on social media of train stations filled to the waist with dirty water and people trapped in sinking cars as the rain overwhelmed the streets. This is the first time in the city that a flash flood emergency has been declared.
According to the National Weather Service, flash floods are “very uncommon circumstances in which exceptionally heavy rain poses a serious threat to human life and catastrophic damage.” Nevertheless, the New York Fire Department rescued hundreds of people from subways, buildings, and highways.
The damages from the flooding could cost the city billions of dollars. As climate change continues to wreak havoc on the planet, America’s infrastructure is being put to the test. If the infrastructure doesn’t improve to handle extreme weather events, billions of dollars and lives will continue to be lost. So, we must improve our infrastructure, and we must be prepared.
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
