The images of water pouring into subways and banks, cars submerged on Avenue A, escalators that needed to be ridden with scuba equipment, brought to mind an apocalypse of a specific kind, another lost city—Atlantis. Was this what New York could become?

Those with cars (and means) could leave, the rest were stuck; some had gas burners, the rest ate their food cold; those with water towers had at least a few days with running water, others had to make do with hydrants. The drama of unequal division uncannily defined the crisis, just as it had an election year that was finally coming to an end.

“The city’s sewer system, the storm-water management system does not have the capacity to process water when you go above an inch and a half, an inch and three-quarters, in an hour,” Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chairman and CEO, told PIX11 on Tuesday. “Last night that rainfall was more than two inches in an hour; that’s when you get the backup into the... See more

But for hundreds of years, the harbor had given New York its power. In less than 24 hours, it took it away. As we are reminded more and more often these days, it doesn’t take long to turn everything on its head.