New York Climate Change

Their renter’s insurance didn’t cover natural disasters — only flooding from building malfunctions, such as burst pipes — and the FEMA flood relief they received came to just $250.

New York After Snow

Remembering when we could count on storms to bury trash bags and cars, and offer us a few hours of quiet.

For entertainment, we had breathless newscasters standing in puddles in their wet-weather gear, heralding the Storm of the Century that no one believed would really happen. “What preparations are you making?” asked an out-of-towner. “We have a lot of tea lights!” said the New Yorker, suggesting that anything more might be overkill. Outside, there... See more

“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

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.