Achievement and controversy: New York will raise East River Park to prevent climate change

The Superstorm known as Sandy Flooded reached Lower Manhattan in 2012 with almost 1,500 milliliters of water from rain and storm surge, flooding New York’s subway lines and destroying homes and businesses. The storm and the ravages in its wake They were a wake-up call that New York is not immune to more intense cyclones and the rise in sea levels caused by climate change.

To protect Lower Manhattanthe city developed a project” class=”com-link” data-reactroot=””>the city developed a project of 1,450 million dollars destined to install 3.9 kilometers of flood barriers, gates and other fences along the East River.

The project also includes a renovation of the East River Park to cover it with enough soil to withstand flooding, which in practice will raise the forest area between 2.4 and 3 meters. The city will plant 2,000 trees to improve the quality of water and air, while the work includes the felling of 1,000 trees.

Some residents they protested the plan, saying it causes too much damage and has too high costs relative to the protection it would provide. The East Side Coastal Recovery Project should be ready in 2025 and is part of a 20,000 plan millions of dollars to protect all of Lower Manhattan from rising water levels.

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“This is a project that will protect 110,000 people on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, of which 28,000 live in subsidized housing. This is a community that was really devastated by Hurricane Sandy, ”he said. Jainey Bavishi, Director of the New York City Municipality’s New Office of Recovery.

Bavishi estimates that the East River will rise by up to 60 centimeters by 2050.

“This project is unprecedented in many ways because nothing like this has ever been built in a dense urban environment like New York City ”, Bavishi explained, adding: “We have a dense infrastructure both above and below ground, and we are trying to incorporate flood protection.”

With more than 830 kilometers of coastline in New York City, protecting from storm surges caused by cyclones is a monumental task. ”People often point to the Netherlands. The Netherlands only has a third of the coastline in the entire country compared to the coastline of New York City. We are doing this in a geography very restricted” class=”com-link” data-reactroot=””>very restricted”Bavishi stated.

Construction workers began installing an underground foundation sheet barrier, the first step towards the construction of the wall against floods. The works will be carried out in two phases to allow the community to have continuous access to the East River Park.

Reuters–