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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Oliver Milman

New York City is sinking due to weight of its skyscrapers, new research finds

Aerial view of lower Manhattan
The water around New York City has risen by about 9in since 1950. Photograph: Alexander Spatari/Getty Images

New York City is sinking in part due to the extraordinary weight of its vertiginous buildings, worsening the flooding threat posed to the metropolis from the rising seas, new research has found.

The Big Apple may be the city that never sleeps but it is a city that certainly sinks, subsiding by approximately 1-2mm each year on average, with some areas of New York City plunging at double this rate, according to researchers.

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