New York, NY —
The Second Avenue Subway is at the forefront of a new boom in transit construction. Over the next decade, the MTA also plans to build a new Fulton Street transit center, a tunnel bringing the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal, and an extension of the 7 line. Those new underground projects are being built just as scientists are predicting more floods due to global warming. As part of our ongoing series on climate change, WNYC’s Beth Fertig looks at whether the MTA is prepared.
Part of Feeling The Heat: New York Responds to Climate Change
REPORTER: When scientists talk about flooding, they often use refer to what’s called “the 100 year storm.” That’s shorthand for the kind of storm that’s so severe, it only has a 1 percent chance of happening each year. Here in New York, that could be a hurricane or Noreaster.
So when it comes to studying climate changes associated with global warming, scientists say storms like these are expected to happen more frequently in the New York area. How often? Cynthia Rosenzweig, who heads the Climate Impacts Group at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University, says New York could be a lot wetter by the year 2050.
ROSENZWEIG: A 100 year storm, that now is the strength of a storm that only happens once in a hundred years would happen - and I’m giving range because of the uncertainty – once in every 40 years to once in every 4 years.
REPORTER: Those findings were in a report published by Rosenzweig’s institute back in 2001. The city’s Department of Environmental Protection took an immediate interest, because it’s responsible for managing the water supply and sewers. The Port Authority also attended meetings with the Columbia institute because of the obvious dangers to mass transit. But the MTA apparently wasn’t aware of the studies. Mysore Nagaraja is the authority’s President of Capital Construction.
NAGARAJA: Personally I was not a part of it, my group was not a part of it and we were not aware of it.
REPORTER: As the engineer in charge of the Second Avenue Subway and the MTA’s other big new projects, Nagaraja says he encourages sustainable designs. The new stations, for example, will save energy by letting in natural light though windows.
But when it comes to designing for floods, local and federal construction standards are STILL based on the 100 year storm model. Maps showing which areas would be most affected are drawn by FEMA. And despite the gloomy forecast, there haven’t been any changes. That’s why Nagaraja says his hands are tied.
NAGARAJA: You can’t keep on changing the design. You have to design to a federal standard. And the standard is the 100 year flood. As long as I’m designing for the 100 year flood, if that happens 10 years from now then I’m still okay because I’m designing for that level.
REPORTER: With that in mind, he says all new subway entrances and exits are at least 10 feet above the flood line established by FEMA. Passengers entering the Second Avenue line, for example, will have to walk up a little before they walk down. At Thursday’s groundbreaking, Nagaraja said the new stations will also be more flood-proof because they won’t allow as much water in from the street as the older stations.
NAGARAJA: The station will be drier because there’s not going to be any street gratings. And there’s going to be forced ventilation in there, so you’re going to have a much better environment in the station. SANDER: Drier lighter.
REPORTER: That was MTA Executive Director Lee Sander, chiming in. The authority is now looking at the risk of more regular flooding. Already, floods are a constant threat. In September of 2004, most of the subway system ground to a halt when a storm dumped 3 inches of rain on the city in 2 hours.
SUBWAY CONDUCTOR: “Ladies and Gentlemen…”
REPORTER: A report found the MTA could have prevented some of the flooding through better maintenance of its drains. Even in dry weather, the subway system pumps out 10 million gallons of water a day because it’s so close to the water table.
The MTA says it’s been working closely with the Office of Emergency Management to develop evacuation plans in case of a hurricane. And the Federal Emergency Management Agency says New York City will get new, updated flood maps this fall. With the exception of Staten Island, the maps haven’t changed since 1983. That’s why some say the city can’t wait for federal guidance.
PAASWELL: The city is really, it’s on water, it’s very prone towards any of these sort of global warming incidents which are yet a little undefined
REPORTER: Robert Paaswell is director of the University Transportation Research Center at City College. He says the city and its regional partners could start looking at comprehensive solutions, like storm surge barriers proposed by a research group at the SUNY campus in Stony Brook.
PAASWELL: Bring together a panel perhaps of geologists and geophysicists and design engineers and some economists and figure out what would be the benefits and costs of looking at the next generation of design and what should those design standards be? We haven’t done that yet
REPORTER: The Bloomberg administration says it’s starting to have those conversations – with agencies including the MTA. The mayor appointed an office of long-term planning and sustainability and a report is expected on April 22nd proposing ways in which New York can handle its growing population while coping with climate change. For WNYC I’m Beth Fertig.