What are the facts? The city that never sleeps is slowly sinking under its own weight, a new study has revealed. New York is reportedly sagging at the rate of 1-2 mm/year, even as the sea level rises. It is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with a population of over 8 million people. It is also home to nearly a million buildings, including numerous skyscrapers. The immense weight of these structures, estimated to be around 771 billion kg, is causing the city to buckle, the study said. Lower Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn in particular are at higher risk.
What is the context?
- Located at the tip of New York state, where the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean, New York City is famously vulnerable to natural disasters.
- “New York faces significant challenges from flood hazard; the threat of sea level rise is three- to four-times higher than the global average along the Atlantic coast of North America,” lead researcher Tom Parsons wrote in a New York Post article .
- Hurricane Sandy forced seawater from the Atlantic into the city while the deluge from Hurricane Ida flooded the drainage systems.
- Researchers fear that repeated storms, rising sea levels and anthropogenic activities will compromise the structural integrity of numerous buildings in the city.
- Constant exposure to saltwater, due to sea-level rise, can also corrode reinforced steel and chemically weaken concrete.
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Why does it matter?
- The sinking of the Big Apple will not only affect the millions of people living there: the city will also have to adapt to the increasing threat of rising seas and frequent hurricanes.
- It ranks third worldwide in terms of future exposed assets to coastal flooding: 90% of the 67,400 structures built in the expanded flood risk area after Hurricane Sandy has not been built according to floodplain standards.
- The researchers also pointed out that apart from the natural subsidence of the land, caused by geologic effects, groundwater over-extraction and heavy construction have exacerbated the sinking problem.
- New York isn’t the only city facing these challenges; Jakarta is another example.
- The crisis is also emblematic of those in coastal cities around the world, often as a result of global warming.
