In a city that’s always busy and bustling, a natural disaster can have serious consequences. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on an unprepared city. Sandy and the general power of hurricanes were underestimated, and all that was used to prepare for the superstorm were sandbags and floodgates. Con Edison’s power plant was affected by flooding, which surpassed the predications, and the nerve center of the plant was affected. The resulting blackout affected 250,000 of Con Edison’s customers. The superstorm also caused subway tunnels to fill with saltwater, which is incredibly harmful to the rail system. A public hospital had to be evacuated because the elevators were not working and there was no drinking water.  The article highlights how five years after Sandy, the city may have finally recovered from damages caused by Sandy, but it is definitely not prepared for another superstorm of that type. Billions of dollars were poured into reinforcing different parts of the city to be more prepared for natural disasters of Sandy’s caliber or even greater. For subway systems, areas were water could seep through were blocked off. Different places are using Kevlar curtains to prevent flooding. Backup generators are being installed on rooftops instead of in basements, where they could get damaged. This type of preparedness is necessary for New York City, since a storm like Sandy can definitely happen again.

After some research, I found that New York City has a website dedicated to natural disaster preparedness. It includes hurricanes and other natural disasters such as earthquakes, extreme heat, and fires. This is important because no matter how many emergency plans are put into place, educating people is important. Evacuation plans and other emergency measures are useless if no one knows to follow them. On this website, NYC residents can find their hurricane evacuation zone, and can learn about important vocabulary and safety tips. New York has a real hurricane risk and it is important for New Yorkers to understand what they could do to protect themselves as much as they can from these natural disasters.

 

http://www1.nyc.gov/site/em/ready/coastal-storms-hurricanes.page