“A Twenty-First-Century Catastrophe” - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 183

the East River and would crank upward to block storm surges as high as twenty-five
feet. Each of these projects would take years to build, might impact water salinity and
aquatic life, and would cost an estimated $1 billion to $6.5 billion.
City officials have called these ideas “intriguing” but “theoretical,” and say floodgates
will not be needed for several decades. In the event of a major flood, they plan to evac-
uate some 3 million city residents via overland routes.
“That seems a bit hopeful,” said Dr. Douglas Hill , a colleague of Bowman's at Stony
Brook, who has been exasperated by the city's lack of interest in their warnings. “We are
expectingto be flooded. It happens here.” He recalled Hurricane Floyd in 1999, when
“the data says that was the worst flooding here in the last half century. It also says that
we will see more hurricanes like it. [Floyd's 155-mile-per-hour winds hit five East Coast
states, causing some $4.5 billion in damages and killing sixty people.] After the disaster
in New Orleans, we can't say we haven't been warned.”
Hill and Bowman estimate that their three barriers would cost $9 billion, a figure
that sounds scary. But Hill believes it is a relative bargain. (By comparison, a proposed
railroad tunnel from New Jersey to Penn Station could cost $8.7 billion, and a plan to
raise railroad infrastructure above flood levels might cost $5.6 billion.) “New York City
is the financial center of the world. It is uniquely valuable, and vulnerable,” said Hill. “If
New York floods, it will cost the nation at least 1.9 trilliondollars. If you look at it that
way, 9 billion dollars for floodgates isn't so bad.”