Climate change\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0coming.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0already here \u2013 look no further than what Queens residents had to endure twice in just three months.<\/p>\n
On Aug. 1, a damaging deluge of heavy rain\u00a0flooded basements and businesses, closed roads and overwhelmed the\u00a0Bayside Long Island Rail Road\u00a0station<\/a>, stranding commuters and leaving Northeast Queens residents to pick up the pieces.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Just\u00a012 weeks\u00a0later on Oct. 30, the city experienced record-breaking rainfall yet again that swamped streets, overwhelmed our sewers and\u00a0killed two New Yorkers<\/a>\u00a0trapped in basements.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of the deceased, Juan Carlos Montoya Hernandez, was found in his apartment in Washington Heights.\u00a0This demonstrates that even high elevation neighborhoods are ill-equipped to stay safe in an era of\u00a0storms supercharged by climate change.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unfortunately, this was not a new experience. Over a dozen Queens residents lost their lives to Hurricane Ida in 2021, and extreme rainfall has become a regular occurrence across New York. The 2023 National Climate Assessment found that the Northeast is experiencing more frequent and intense rainfall than anywhere else in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n Aging, impermeable infrastructure heightens the risk to waterfront communities from East Harlem in Manhattan to Howard Beach in Queens and\u00a0beyond. With flood risk in Black communities projected to\u00a0grow by as much as 20%<\/a>\u00a0over the next 25 years\u00a0as well, failure to adopt lifesaving infrastructure only exacerbates the impact that policies like redlining have had in\u00a0effectively restricting access to lending for homeownership \u2013 all while concentrating industrial land use in communities of color and limiting opportunities to develop\u00a0high quality, expansive green spaces.<\/p>\n It is clear that New York City\u2019s infrastructure is not prepared to manage these rain events, which will only grow more commonplace and severe\u00a0due to climate change.\u00a0New Yorkers should not have to worry that every time the sky darkens, their basements, apartments, businesses and subway stops are going to be inundated. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection cloudburst management projects<\/a> and the city\u2019s 11,000 rain gardens<\/a> represent important progress for stormwater flood solutions, but more work needs to be done to make sure New York is ready for more rain.<\/p>\n Luckily, an existing policy could help do just that.\u00a0<\/p>\n