How New York City can protect against storm surges

Yours truly, writing for NOVA:

“Are oysters enough?” Orff says. “No. Is a storm barrier enough? No. Are making trap doors to our tunnels enough? No.”

That’s in part because we’ve built many of our cities right up the the water’s edge, where they are most vulnerable. We’ve filled wetlands that had historically acted as mops during storm surges. We’ve placed important pieces of infrastructure under sea level. And we’re changing the climate in a way that’s causing the sea level to rise, which compounds all of the problems listed above.

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