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Climate Adaptation

Rising Seas Mean More Flooding Will Be Coming to New York City

  • Sea levels along U.S. Atlantic coast hit records through April
  • ‘This is the new normal in a floodier future’: NOAA director
People look at a damaged boardwalk in the Battery Park neighborhood of Manhattan.
People look at a damaged boardwalk in the Battery Park neighborhood of Manhattan.

Photographer: Allison Joyce/Getty Images

There’s going to be a lot more flooding in New York this year as climate change causes sea levels to continue to rise.

The Battery, at the southern tip of Manhattan, flooded 10 times in the 12 months through April, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual report. In the year-long period that began in May, the agency expects it happen as many as 14 more times. That’s a big change from the early 2000s, when the Battery would flood less than 5 times per year.