Rising seas are sinking futures.
Sea level rise is not only a threat in itself,
it is a threat multiplier.
REPORTER: Since 1993, when satellite measurements began,
the rate of sea level rise has doubled.
10% of the overall sea level rise
has been in the past 2 and 1/2 years.
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That paired with more and more devastating
storms and hurricanes has amplified a flooding
crisis for communities around the world
to an unprecedented degree.
People in parts of smaller island nations,
like Fiji and Vanuatu, are already experiencing
forced relocations.
And as sea levels rise and storm patterns
change for the worse, parts of New York City, America's most
densely populated coastal community,
could be facing the same threat.
So how do coastal communities prepare
for the inevitable devastating flooding that will follow?
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Many of the cities home to over 12 million residents
are in coastal locations.
Coastal flooding is a big problem
because a lot of the human population lives along coasts.
REPORTER: And in the US, 30% of the population
lives on the coast.
That's roughly 94 million people.
With receding coastlines in Florida
and dangerous seawater flooding in New Orleans, the impact
from rising seas is already being felt.
The peril of flooding is not an abstract danger
for residents of New York City, the most
populous city in the US.
Currently, 1.3 million people in the metropolis
live in a floodplain.
By 2100, that number could rise to 2.2 million.
MALGOSIA MADAJEWICZ: The projected rise in sea levels
for New York City by the 2050s is 1 to 1
and 1/2 feet is the central estimate.
But the high estimate by 2050, the seas
could rise by as much as 2 and 1/2 feet.
By the end of the century, that central estimate
of sea level rise is 2 to 4 feet, with a high estimate
as high as 6 feet.
REPORTER: With higher background sea levels,
coastal areas are more prone to flooding during storms.
In 2012, New York City was battered by Hurricane Sandy,
a so-called 100-year storm.
44 people died, and the damages reached
an estimated $19 billion.
Thousands were displaced and lost their homes.
Since then, the city has moved to flood-proof critical
infrastructure, such as hospitals, power
plants, and major tunnels.
A $52 billion proposal by the Army Corps of Engineers
has been put forward, creating a series of storm surge barriers
around New York Harbor.
But the project does not have funding yet,
and there's no timetable for its construction.
There is no single actor who can eliminate
all of the flood risk.
So even if you put up a massive set of flood barriers,
that system is going to allow smaller floods.
So there are other interventions that
need to address the damages that the smaller floods are going
to cause, such as individuals investing in retrofitting
their homes, filling in those basements,
or smaller infrastructure along the shore.
REPORTER: Dr. Madajewicz and her team documented the cost
of damage from Hurricane Sandy to homes
and compared them to the cost of retrofitting
a home to make it more flood resilient.
The results indicated that the measures would save
homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars
over the next decades.
But many still struggle with the investment
into flood-proofing their homes or rely on secondary incomes
from renting out their basements.
It's not something they can afford.
Or again, they have economic benefits from their basements,
which they rely on for their livelihoods.
And that's not easy for them to eliminate from their budget.
REPORTER: So why don't residents move out of flood-prone areas?
The other piece of the puzzle is
that if you were to even move individuals out
of their communities, it's often a very destabilizing
trend for families that may be their entire asset is
their home.
They're not going to get a great buyout on that home.
It's the thing that they were hoping that the next generation
was going to inherit.
This is the one biggest investment that anyone can make
is buy a home.
Now you're telling me to abandon my dream.
REPORTER: Over half of the residents in floodplains in New
York City live in areas where the median income is
less than $75,120, which is considered
low income for families of three in the city.
It's not a practical answer to just
blame individuals in those zones and to say
that they need to move.
REPORTER: Economic concerns in communities also
can be barriers to implementing climate adaptation projects.
Are they going to displace residents?
Or is there going to be neighborhood decline
because you put up a seawall outside of the beach
and all of a sudden nobody wants to live there anymore?
REPORTER: While much of the attention
around coastal flooding has been around investments
in physical infrastructure, social infrastructure,
including food, shelter, financial and legal services
for those in need, is just as important
to prepare for the next storm.
There needs to be significant reform in how we get out
resources to community partners and to human services
organizations.
I think one of the directions that we really need to go in
is for more voices to be brought into adaptation planning.
We continue, in a lot of government entities,
to plan for fraud paranoia and pandemonium,
but not plan for the fact that a lot of people
are actually going to be ready and willing to show
up and help.
And I hope we'll move towards a model
where we're looking more at that.
We have no other choice in New York City
but to look at our communities as planners and responders for
the future of climate crisis.
If we don't look at all of us as being a part of it, it's over.
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