Ten Years After Sandy, NYC Needs $8.5B To Protect Coasts: Mayor

NEW YORK CITY — New York City needs $8.5 billion for coastal resiliency projects to protect against climate change-driven storms like Superstorm Sandy, which struck 10 years ago this week, Mayor Eric Adams said.

Adams and a Who's-Who of prominent city politicians broke ground Wednesday on a project designed to protect the Two Bridges neighborhood of Manhattan.

They used the groundbreaking to not only memorialize the 44 people who died during Sandy, but also rally support for future projects that could combat the effects of coastal storm surges and rising sea levels.

"It will cost more to bail out New York City than to protect it,” Adams said.

Sandy struck New York City 10 years ago, leaving dozens dead, $19 billion in property damage, a days-long blackout that left 2.5 million city dwellers without power and extensively flooded subways and tunnels, officials said.

Many New Yorkers who lost loved ones in the storm worry those deaths are being forgotten, and that the city will fail to prepare for climate change.

The Two Bridges project — officially dubbed Brooklyn Bridge-Montgomery Coastal Resilience — will put in movable walls that can flip up during storms and thus preserve views of and access to the waterfront. The project will protect 44,000 New Yorkers in the neighborhood from the effects of a 100-year coastal storm surge, as well as sea level rise, officials said.

Adams said, however, that federal help to the tune is needed to complete a slew of other coastal resiliency projects. He said $8.5 billion in pre-disaster funding is needed.

The mayor also announced that the city will launch "Climate Strong Communities," an initiative that aims to turbocharge design of coastal resiliency projects not yet covered by Sandy recovery funding.

"Equity and environmental justice are essential to our climate strategy,” he said.