Wednesday\u2019s study in the journal Science Advances<\/a> found that New York City has 4.75 million people at the two highest risk levels for all flooding, with more than 200,000 buildings likely to be damaged.<\/p>\n And while the number of people at risk in New Orleans is far lower, about 380,000, it involves 99% of the city\u2019s population. That doesn\u2019t mean 99% of the people will be affected in the next hurricane or nontropical flood, but that they might be depending on the storm\u2019s individual path and rain pattern, said study co-author Wanyun Shao, a climate scientist at the University of Alabama.<\/p>\n \u201cJust look at the magnitude,\u201d Shao said. \u201cThose numbers are shocking, are alarming.\u201d<\/p>\n The elderly and poor are most at risk<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the next big storm hits New York City, when the next Hurricane Katrina<\/a> -like hurricane makes landfall in New Orleans, people will get hurt, especially those socially vulnerable populations,\u201d Shao said referring to the poor, the elderly, children and the uneducated.<\/p>\n Shao and outside experts said the numbers stunned them even though they were familiar with the worsening effects of climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A person carries their belongings down a flooded street in New Orleans on April 10, 2024. (Chris Granger\/The Times-Picayune\/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)<\/p>\n A person carries their belongings down a flooded street in New Orleans on April 10, 2024. (Chris Granger\/The Times-Picayune\/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n \u201cNew York is known to be susceptible to floods and it has the largest population. But the fact that New York has nearly an order of magnitude more flood-exposed population than any other city is surprising,\u201d said Alex de Sherbinin, a geographer who directs Columbia University\u2019s Center for Integrated Earth System Information. He wasn\u2019t part of the study.<\/p>\n Flood problems are becoming more frequent in New York and New Orleans because of human-caused climate change, the study said.<\/p>\n Other cities are also threatened<\/p>\n Jacksonville has 679,000 people at high or very high risk of flooding, while Houston is just behind at just under 600,000. Other cities highlighted include Miami, Norfolk, Virginia, Charleston, South Carolina, Mobile, Alabama.<\/p>\n Shao and outside experts said what separates her study from others is the sheer comprehensiveness of all the factors it considers, including sinking land and pavement that doesn\u2019t allow water to seep into the ground, as well as incorporating human social vulnerability such as poverty and age.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A vehicle is stranded in high waters on a flooded highway at Interstate 10 and Washington in Houston, July 8, 2024, after Hurricane Beryl came ashore. (AP Photo\/Maria Lysaker, File)<\/p>\n A vehicle is stranded in high waters on a flooded highway at Interstate 10 and Washington in Houston, July 8, 2024, after Hurricane Beryl came ashore. (AP Photo\/Maria Lysaker, File)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n \u201cThis could be applied to other places in the world, such as Manila,\u201d said University of Virginia engineering professor Venkataraman Lakshmi, who heads the hydrology section of the American Geophysical Union, referring to the capital of the Philippines. He wasn\u2019t part of the study, but said the flooding problems it highlights will get more frequent and intense due to human-caused climate change.<\/p>\n Columbia University\u2019s Marco Tedesco, who wasn\u2019t part of the study, said \u201cit reinforces the crucial concept that future flood disasters are not just about water\u2014they are about where people live, how cities are built, and who is least protected.\u201d<\/p>\n Actions can lessen the risk<\/p>\n De Sherbinin said, \u201cthe analysis of the flood risk factors is important for local planners, emergency managers, and even highway crews and utility providers. We all know that low lying areas are more flood prone, but the data they have assembled provide more insights into flood risk, particularly for flash floods.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The FDR highway underneath the Williamsburg Bridge in the Lower East Side of Manhattan is closed due to flooding on Sept. 29, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo\/Stefan Jeremiah, File)<\/p>\n The FDR highway underneath the Williamsburg Bridge in the Lower East Side of Manhattan is closed due to flooding on Sept. 29, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo\/Stefan Jeremiah, File)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Study lead author Hemal Dey, a geospatial scientist, said he hopes local officials look at not just building more dams and levees, but more natural infrastructure such as wetlands, grasslands, rain gardens and estuaries.<\/p>\n \u201cThe research is solid confirmation of what emergency managers have been saying for years. Realtors will hate it,\u2019’ said Craig Fugate, a former FEMA director who wasn\u2019t part of the study. \u201cThe harder question is what we\u2019re actually going to do about it.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 More than 17 million people along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts are at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[9604,5183,15773,1685,4253,37301,240489,4976,192,2822,1679,2808,793,34471,1682,6099,2005,1999,9458,8643,79,5614,1022,1059,5148],"class_list":{"0":"post-600277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-al-state-wire","9":"tag-alabama","10":"tag-atlantic-ocean","11":"tag-climate-and-environment","12":"tag-climate-change","13":"tag-coastlines-and-beaches","14":"tag-craig-fugate","15":"tag-disaster-planning-and-response","16":"tag-environment","17":"tag-fl-state-wire","18":"tag-floods","19":"tag-florida","20":"tag-general-news","21":"tag-hurricanes-and-typhoons","22":"tag-natural-disasters","23":"tag-new-orleans","24":"tag-new-york","25":"tag-new-york-city","26":"tag-oceans","27":"tag-sc-state-wire","28":"tag-science","29":"tag-south-carolina","30":"tag-texas","31":"tag-tx-state-wire","32":"tag-virginia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776890900_637_.jpeg\")
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