A 2024 report from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently established flooding as the city's most imminent threat — a startling successor to ongoing pandemic anxieties in the DOHMH's last release in 2018.

What's happening?

The new report, a five-year risk analysis for the city's public health, cited atmospheric changes and environmental pressures as the primary sources of concern regarding flooding in New York City. Over the past five years or so, the area has experienced a pattern of intense flooding, including that caused by Hurricane Ida in 2021, as well as other flash flooding events. 

Experts anticipate that the worst of any flooding should affect the parts of the city closest to the coast during the next five years, such as Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Coney Island boardwalk. However, if climate change patterns persist and storms continue to increase in severity, we could be looking at flood risk as far inland as Brooklyn, downtown Manhattan, and parts of Staten Island, Queens, and the Bronx — no later than 2080, according to The City.

Why is flooding important?

As floods in New York City and elsewhere become increasingly severe, the risk of casualties and damage to urban and residential infrastructure also increases. According to The City, the latest DOHMH report also considered flooding a long-term health concern, exploring links between flooding events and fatalities caused by injury, cardiovascular disease, and other infectious diseases, even months after the event.

"Nationally, we're vulnerable to more frequent and intense floods because of atmospheric warming," explained Columbia University's Victoria Lynch.

The rising severity of floods is only one of many extreme weather events supercharged by human-induced climate change. Primarily, industrial and residential carbon pollution traps heat within the Earth's atmosphere and adds moisture to the air, amplifying the potency of hurricanes, rainstorms, floods, and the like. While isolated natural disasters on their own aren't tied to our warming global climate, we can expect the fallout of these events to worsen at our current carbon pollution rate.

What's being done about flooding?

The only surefire way to address the increasing dangers of flooding is to reduce carbon pollution. Local organizations can help stockpile supplies and offer emergency evacuation services, while flood mapping and prevention research remains in the works. However, the magnitude of today's flooding is only a symptom of the greater climate issue.

For your part, you can put a dent in the carbon problem by switching to public transit, upgrading to electric appliances, and staying informed about the latest climate developments.

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