High-risk flood zones cover roughly 20% of the city’s land.
A study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences maps out New York City’s “Blue Zones,” areas that once held water and that are at risk of more severe flooding as sea levels rise.
As Samantha Maldonado explains in The City, the study reveals that Blue Zones cover about one-fifth of the city’s land in around 500 locations, putting about 1.2 million people at risk. Blue Zones include LaGuardia Airport and JFK Airport. “Lucinda Royte, lead author of the paper and manager of urban conservation, data tools and outreach at the New York Botanical Garden, said the Blue Zones indicate where it’s most pressing to address flood risks and increase resiliency.”
Almost two-thirds of the land area in Blue Zones is owned by government entities. “Many of the initiatives to make neighborhoods more resilient to flooding — including permanently moving people away from risks, adding storm drains and building rain gardens — are in the works, prompted by disastrous flooding after 2012’s Hurricane Sandy and 2021’s Hurricane Ida.”
Read the full story: A Fifth of NYC Built on Bygone Water Now at Risk: Study Maps City’s ‘Blue Zones’
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