Hurricane Sandymade landfall two years ago last nighttime , spark off one of the largest natural tragedy New York has ever seen . In the 24 months since , New York has exchange in dozens of unexpected style — and it ’s just go to convert more .
The violent storm was a vehicle for change , as well as a wake - up call for a metropolis that is only going to be endanger by more big storm and rise tide . On the second anniversary of the violent storm , here are a few agency we ’re accommodate .
The storm also force the urban center ’s Office of Emergency Management to consider a hard true statement : What would happen if thousands of New Yorkers were leave in a disaster zone without caparison . This summer , the OEM fabricate aprototype disaster shelternear the Brooklyn Bridge .
These one- and three - bedroom abode social unit are design to dish up as long - term caparison for New Yorkers who are displaced by tempest . They ’re easy to move and heap , thanks to their shipping container shape , and they include details like full , modern bathrooms and repositing space — vital for New Yorkers who might be bind living in them for days . The OEM has actually install occupier in the prototypes , and they ’ll drop the next two days studying how well they exploit .
Sandy unwrap many things about how profoundly unprepared we were for a major catastrophic outcome , but by doing so , it spurred the metropolis and Federal governance to inspire major changes . For case , FEMA releasedupdated , naturalistic flood maps .
AP Photo / Jessica Hill
Meanwhile the US Geological Survey is build ahuge connection down the East Coastthat will deploy sensors at 1,000 monitoring internet site to track everything from storm surges to barometrical pressure in literal metre . Next time , we ’ll know exactly where the pee is — and how bad the hurt will be .
One thing many think back from the day after Sandy : The desperation for a charging station . People made due in captivating ways — and at least one inauguration have to the streets to help — but the dearth of backup plan injected newfangled considerations into exist urban center infrastructure plans .
For example , today there aresolar - power phone charging stationsgoing up around the metropolis . And the city ’s programme to retrofit its thousands of old payphones include functions focused on broadcasting emergency warning and allowing New Yorkers to communicate , even when the power is out .
The cityrecently announceda design to sprain 7,000 of those old payphones into a Wi - Fi mesh , with one official explaining , “ while public payphone usage has decreased in late twelvemonth , the phone served a decisive part during great power outage following Hurricane Sandy , as public payphones find electrical energy via the phone line and not external tycoon sources . ”
It ’s not as though we did n’t know , intellectually , that New York was in danger of storm surges before Sandy . But the storm drove it home in a splanchnic way that set off a act of major city - scale construction project that would have otherwise been unthinkable . The US Department of Housing and Urban Development held a massive design competitor calledRebuild by Design , ultimately awardingalmost a billion dollarsto see labor built .
The grownup of those in New York is a 16 - substructure roadblock along a huge swatch of Manhattan ’s coast , which will protect the city from surge to a melodic phrase of at least $ 535 million . Meanwhile , Staten Island is build a $ 60 million to build an submersed shelf and oyster reef that will slow the next surge that arrives .
CitiesInfrastructurenew york
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