All language subtitles for PBS.Sinking.Cities.New.York.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

♪♪

-If we understand how nature is
trying to shape New York City,

then maybe we can make
New York City

fit into the nature of the place

and then, that way, make it
possible to live in the city

into the next 400 years

and maybe the 400 years
after that.

-From the sky, it's clear that
New York City was boldly built

right to the water's edge.

It's a coastal city surrounded
by water on all sides.

♪♪

Just a century ago, there was
more cargo tonnage and people

passing through this port
than all other major harbors

in the country combined.

With 578 miles of coastline,

all that water is
now New York's greatest threat.

-The real challenge for us
in the 21st century is,

can we be as wise
as we are smart?

We're so smart
about so many things.

We're so clever
and yet, somehow,

when it actually comes
to making hard decisions,

the wise decisions
based on what we know,

we have trouble doing that.

I don't know how many more
examples nature needs to give us

to do the right thing.

-The world's great cities

face threats they have
never before encountered.

New York...

Tokyo...

London...

Miami...

The threats come from the sea,

from above and from below.

These are the problems
and their solutions...

♪♪

...for when the water comes.

[ Waves crashing ]

-A Mayor of the City of New York

has ordered
a mandatory evacuation.

All residents
are urged to comply

with this evacuation request.

-In 2012, superstorm Sandy
catches New York by surprise.

The city is flooded with
1.6 billion gallons of water

containing raw
and partially treated sewage.

The storm surge,
measuring over 13 feet,

engulfs New York with
over 700,000 tons of debris.

It is the worst natural disaster
in the city's history.

Trever Holland is a resident
and an attorney

in a neighborhood
called Two Bridges.

-It's on the Lower East Side,

and it's called Two Bridges
because our neighborhood

is located
between the two bridges,

the Manhattan Bridge
and the Brooklyn Bridge.

-The median household income

in this inner-city neighborhood
of 38,000 people

is just over $21,000.

That's well under half
of the average median income

of New York City.
-It's an affordable

neighborhood,
working-class individuals.

We're in
a very diverse neighborhood,

one of the most diverse
in Manhattan.

Different economic levels.
Different races.

Different creeds.
Different religions.

I mean, it's one of the reasons
why I love living here.

-Two Bridges is situated
on New York's floodplain.

At five to 10 feet
above sea level,

parts of it will be
completely underwater

if sea levels rise by six feet

in the next century,
as predicted.

-Someone had talked about
storm amnesia,

and I think that does happen

because you forget
how bad it was.

One of the more vivid scenes
I remember

is that we take a look
in the backyard area

where our playground is...

There were three or four
homeless people,

who didn't get the notice
that a storm was coming.

They don't have cell phones.
They're not watching the news.

They just realize
that the water is rising.

And they were basically
trapped in an area

and they were standing in water

trying to figure out
how to get out of this.

I remember that
vividly thinking,

"How many people
didn't get the news flash

that a storm is coming?"

And they were just sleeping
along the river

and then all of a sudden
the water came up.

♪♪

These are porters.

They stayed overnight.
They had no choice.

This one is
actually South Street.

This was early in the storm.

The water had just
come over the edges.

When you think of Manhattan,

you kind of think,
"Oh, apartment buildings."

You don't really think that,
you know, a building flooding,

especially in
our particular neighborhood.

This was the point where

we could no longer enter
the street.

I mean, this is
the side of the building

and that's actually the sidewalk
you can see on the right side.

It had already gone up
to the four-foot wall

that is outside
of our building.

And, looking down from
the street,

a sea of water,
or a river of water.

-Two Bridges got slammed
by the storm surge in 2012,

and it will be slammed again.

-We know that there's gonna be
another big hurricane.

That hurricane could come
next year,

and they're gonna blame
the politicians

for not acting fast enough.

We have to recognize
that climate change is here.

We know that there's
gonna be sea-level rise

and we know the storms
are getting more intense.

We should find ways,
have a plan,

for people to live in
a safe way.

We're so creative
about our science

but, somehow,
we haven't really brought

our full suite of creativity
to this question.

♪♪

This place is on the edge, it's
on the edge of the continent,

and that's what makes
New York City so special,

and that also is what's
threatening New York City

going into the future.

-New York City faces two
challenges.

The first is the inevitable fact

that the city lies
in a hurricane zone,

and storms will continue to come
no matter what.

-My kids are 10 and 15.

I know that they're gonna have
to live with this

the rest of their lives.

I think this is something
that is embedded in us

as people who have
had to live through it.

-The second
is rising sea levels.

-I think that people
in New York understand

that sea level is rising and
that it's a critical problem.

How much it's rising?
And how we'll adapt?

Those are still open questions.

-The challenges are clear,
but what are the solutions?

How can New York adapt
and survive?

-We're gonna go out and we're
gonna just swap one instrument,

put in a new, fresh instrument

so we get good-quality
measurement.

-Philip Orton
works on the front line

of the effort
to measure the rising seas.

He monitors the Hudson River,
gathering present-day data

to predict and maybe prevent
future catastrophe.

-We've got a buoy offshore.

It's got a SONN, an instrument
that has many sensors on it,

that's measuring pH, the
oxygen, salinity of the water,

temperature of the water,
water elevation...

There's instruments
all up and down the Hudson.

It'll send the data
to the Internet

which we take into our database.

We collect the data
for the forecast model.

Much like
with the weather forecast,

you can merge the best
information you have

to form the initial conditions

in order to launch
your next forecast.

-These gauges
help Orton understand

which parts of the city
are most at risk

when the next big storm
or hurricane hits.

♪♪

After Sandy, Orton's data
was used in modeling

to see what New York
would look like

with six feet of sea level rise
by 2100.

-So this is a satellite map
showing New York City

without any flooding.

Shown here is Broad Channel,
The Rockaways, Lower Manhattan,

and over here is Staten Island.

If you get six feet
of sea-level rise,

the everyday average high tide

is gonna start flooding
a lot of neighborhoods.

It's high tide in 2100.

This is now showing tidal
flooding of places like

South Street Seaport,
Lower Manhattan,

a lot of flooding around
Jamaica Bay,

also on Staten Island.

Hundreds of thousands of people
being flooded at that point.

It's uninhabitable when
you start getting flooded

so many times per year.

That's tidal flooding, but then
there's also storm surges.

We can also look at
what 2100 would hold

if we had a very severe storm
like Hurricane Sandy,

plus six feet of sea level rise.

A much larger percentage
of the coastal zone is flooded,

the West Side of Manhattan,
the Tribeca district,

Wall Street, Battery Park,
Lower East Side.

-Sandy flooded
51 square miles --

17% of the city.

With six feet of sea rise,

those numbers would be closer
to 100 square miles

or about 1/3 of the city
underwater.

-This kind of flooding
would be catastrophic.

There's massive
infrastructural elements

for a city of 8 million people
that are in the flood zones.

Transportation system,
the tunnels, the subways,

the electrical system,

and of course a lot of these
things were flooded

just by Hurricane Sandy,

so if you envision six feet
of sea-level rise,

then a great deal more
is at risk at that point.

The whole city could be disabled
in this kind of flood scenario.

It's almost certain if we don't

reduce our
carbon-dioxide emissions

that we'll have sea level rise
of that scale

in the 22nd century.

New York City's 300 years old.

At this rate, we won't make it
to another 300 years.

♪♪

-When we designed and built
New York,

we did not think of floods
and storms.

-New York's
century-old subway system

is a disturbing example
of the challenges the city faces

from rising seas
and powerful storms.

The subway moves almost
6 million people every day,

the largest transit service
in the country,

with 840 miles of track --

enough to stretch
all the way to Chicago.

But it's now in critical need
of maintenance

as New York adapts to
the perils of climate change.

-This is
the South Ferry station.

Water entered actually through
this entrance

and went all the way
down the stairs...

...and flooded
the entire station.

There was actually three, four
feet of water on the mezzanine.

Everybody was surprised that
the whole station got flooded.

Nobody anticipated
that much water coming in

and actually flooding
the whole station.

First of all, there was urgency
to get service back,

so there was urgency
to get all of the water out,

pump everything.

There was like...

7 or 8 million gallons of water

that had to be pumped out,

and it took weeks
to pump it out.

So, once they pumped out
all of the water,

then the station was assessed
to see what was damaged

and what had to be done.

♪♪

-Joe Lhota is the chairman of

the Metropolitan
Transit Authority.

He says that the city's
14 submerged subway tunnels

are in jeopardy due to storm
surge and rising seas.

-The subway system was built

over about 115 years ago now.

And when they opened it,

I don't think they ever
envisioned the rising tides

that we're experiencing now
in the 21st century.

Pretty much all of
our tunnels were damaged.

Not just to the actual rail
equipment

but to the side of the walls.

We had South Ferry station here
in Lower Manhattan

that was pretty much brand-new,
completely renovated

that was completely destroyed.

The water went
all the way up to the steps,

its two stories below ground,
it was completely flooded.

We need to rebuild the system.

-Dr. Klaus Jacob is a
disaster-risk and climate expert

In 2011, he released a study

that warned it would only take
a single superstorm,

combined with sea-level rise,

to flood and destroy the city's
most vulnerable subway tunnels.

-We did the studies in close
cooperation

with the engineering staff

of the Metropolitan
Transit Authority,

whose subdivision
runs the subway system.

Looking not only at the present,

but for the 2030s, 2050s, 2080s

and the end of the century.

Our focus really was
climate change

and how would New York City
adapt to that rising sea level

with storms superimposed on top.

Our results showed that the
Achilles' heel of New York City

would be the subway system.

We had computed that it would
take only about 40 minutes

to fill whatever can be filled.

But if you have six feet
of water already in addition,

a city like New York City has
no choice but to take action.

-The subway is just one of

several critical
infrastructure assets

New York City has to protect

from rising sea levels
and powerful storms.

-It's $7- to $8-billion problem.

It's not just the subways --

we also have numerous bridges
and tunnels.

We also have
the commuter rail lines,

Metro-North and
the Lower Allen railroad

that we need to make resilient.

Because that's how people
get to and from work,

to and from school.

They're the arteries that allow

the lifeblood
of the metropolitan area

to stick together.

-New York's population
is at its highest in history

and shows no sign of declining.

8.6 million people
now call the five boroughs home

and that population has risen
5.5% since 2010 --

leading the state
in population growth.

-I have looked at the evolution
of New York City

over its 400 years of existence.

It has undergone
so many mutations.

I mean, it did not look
anything like it looks now.

Why should it look in 100 years
anything like it looks now?

-Clues to the future challenges
New York City faces

may be found in its past --

in urban development
that started over 300 years ago.

-I remember getting a call
from Bill

not that long
after Hurricane Sandy,

and he asked
if we have maps which show,

in a really dramatic fashion,

how the landfill
in New York City

had an impact on the severity
of the storm.

-My name is Bill Johnson.

In 2012, I was director of
the state-wide mapping program,

part of the Division of Homeland
Security & Emergency Services.

They were hoping that the maps
would help them understand

the underlying issues
related to the storm.

And so, we started
thinking about

how we could help her
with this work.

-My reaction to this kind
of request was excitement

in that we had means
to contribute

to helping the city become
a more resilient place.

-We started thinking about
overlays of aerial imagery

with historic maps.

-We had all of these maps here
in digital format already

and we had them stretched over
the same geographic grid

so that they lined up
when we compared them.

-Those were the raw ingredients
we needed.

We had an accurate
representation

of everything that had changed

between 1609 and 2012
as evidenced in an aerial photo.

So, when we overlay
this 1860 map on the 1767,

what's immediately apparent is

that there's
a tremendous expansion.

Here's the 1767 shoreline
I'm tracing with my finger.

So, all of this
from here out to here is new.

We overlay that on
the modern map of Manhattan,

and you can see
how much of Lower Manhattan

is actually constructed
on the man-made, reclaimed land.

-An area
which was formerly undeveloped

is the scene of a project in
which is employment is provided

for both skilled
and unskilled workers.

A long bulkhead was built

to reclaim land from the waters
of the bay.

-Almost four square miles
of modern-day Manhattan

is built on landfill added
all along the city's coasts.

-We took the Sandy storm-surge
data and overlaid it on top

to see if there was alignment
between the man-made lands

and where the flooding
occurred from Sandy.

And what we can see

is that it very dramatically
aligns with the man-made area.

What this really reveals

is that the flooding
from superstorm Sandy

is largely man-made.

The flooding occurred
largely as a result

of 400 years of human activity

that basically created
a new floodplain.

And that floodplain
is densely filled with

modern, urban infrastructure --

subway tunnels, power-plants --

and that's
where we saw the damage

from flooding from Sandy.

-The reclaimed land
Johnson identifies

is a critical part
of the U.S. economy.

Banking, finance, technology,
communication, insurance --

more Fortune 500 companies
have offices here

than anywhere else
on the planet.

-We are the financial capital
of the country,

if not the world,

we are the center
of arts and media.

Many of the media companies
for this country,

if not the world,
are headquartered here.

We have to get it right
because of what we mean

to the economy of the country
and the economy of the world.

And we need to do better.

-Despite dire warnings,

63% of New Yorkers who were
under mandatory evacuation

stay put through Sandy.

Many stay
because they have no choice.

-That's typical in a lot of
the affordable neighborhoods

in New York City,
and it's a stark contrast

to a lot of
the other neighborhoods.

People just don't have
the resources to leave.

They shelter in place

and they're used to
sheltering in place

during the typical disasters
that we've had in New York.

Where are they gonna go?

-The city has created
new evacuation zones

that can accommodate
3 million New Yorkers.

-You don't want to put
people's lives at risk.

You have hundreds
of thousands of people,

if not millions
of people affected

by the decision to evacuate.

It is costly as well.

You're opening shelters,
there's an economic impact

but you have to say life safety
is the most important thing.

There's certainly always going
to be a challenge

with people making that
decision --

do they want
to leave their homes?

And the best thing you can do

is tell people
you have to take this seriously.

-But evacuation is
a band-aid solution

for a life-threatening
problem --

rising sea levels that will make
parts of the city

permanently uninhabitable,

unless innovative engineering
can make a difference.

That takes political will.

-My name is Dan Zarrilli.

I'm the chief resilience officer

and the senior director
for climate policy and programs

here in the mayor's office.

There's been a lot of activity
to make sure that we are

more aware of what it means to
live by the coast

and that sometimes you may get
wet

but we're continuing
to invest and make sure that

we are able to bounce back
quicker from those events

and that we are building
a stronger New York City

at the end of this.

The vulnerabilities
aren't just something

that's going to show up
in 100 years.

They're here, they're now,

and we need to invest
to mitigate those risks

and that means that we're
looking at a full range

of coastal-defense investments.

We're implementing them,
new building code regulations,

new zoning code regulations,
upgrading our infrastructure.

-In the search for solutions
to save the city,

Dan Zarrilli has turned
to the private sector.

-We are not an
infrastructure-forward country

right now.
-Vishaan Chakrabarti

is one of the architects
and urban thinkers

who is tackling the problem
head on.

-The last time we were was
under President Eisenhower.

-The highway construction
program initiated by Ike

is the biggest peace-time
enterprise ever undertaken.

It will cost tens of billions.
-That was the last time

this nation moved
a quantum leap forward

in terms of its infrastructure
and we haven't done it since.

-The elimination
of waste spending

made a balanced budget possible.
-As much as I love New York,

our biggest problem in my mind

is that we have substandard
infrastructure

that's over 100 years old.

I think we really need to step
back and holistically look at

all the infrastructure
in the city.

Do we have train stations
that function properly?

Do we have subways that
can run in these situations?

In the world's richest country,

and the richest city
of the world's richest country,

are we gonna say that we're not
gonna do something about this?

-The question remains,
does New York City really need

to spend huge sums
on expensive mega-projects

to protect itself
from rising sea levels?

The answer may lie in a vault
in Massachusetts.

Historical records
reveal evidence

of previous mega-storms
in New York,

and researchers look for
patterns to determine

if they are getting
more frequent and worse.

-This is the
sea-floor-samples lab.

It's a national archive
of all the sediment cores

that have been taken over
the last several decades.

-Jeff Donnelly
is a senior scientist

at Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution.

-There are samples from
all over the world.

Tens of thousands of them.

We maintain this archive
so that scientists can come

and resample cores
that may have been taken

long before they were even born.

-These core-sediment samples

were taken by scientists in
New York, dating back to 1721.

-One of the things that makes
New York especially vulnerable

to hurricane strikes is the sort
of shape of the coastline there.

You've got the bight

where New York and New Jersey
come together.

As a storm comes up
the eastern seaboard,

it's focusing water
into that bight

and causing greater levels
of storm surge.

-Just like tree rings can tell
the story of climate change,

core-sediment samples
offer clear signs

of powerful hurricanes
across the past 300 years.

-You can see these really
distinctive sand layers here

that are deposited
within the salt marsh peat

and it's these layers
that tell us about

the high-energy event
that occurred,

so it's hurricane waves
and storm surge

overtopping the beach

transporting the beach sand
into the salt marsh.

We already had well-documented
the 1821 hurricane

but didn't really have a very
good modern analogue

for which we had
modern measurements.

Hurricane Sandy provided
an opportunity

to do a comparison
with these earlier events.

We know from the documentary
record that

the storm surge for 1821 was
actually even higher than Sandy.

It was probably about 14,
15 feet worth of storm surge.

The 1821 hurricane hit

when sea levels were
about two-feet lower.

-Every century,
the city gets slammed.

-You don't even need the bigger
and badder storm than 1821,

you have 1821 come back,

you've already gotta add
two feet to that

just because of the sea-level
rise that's occurred since then.

-Donnelly's findings confirm

superstorm Sandy was not
the exception, but the rule --

common to every century.

In fact, the storm surge in 1821

was 1 1/2 times the height
and strength of Sandy.

-They're more of an order of
once every 70, 80, 100 years.

-New York's population then
was just over 120,000 people --

most of whom did not live
on the water's edge.

-In the next century,
sea level is forecast to rise

at least three more feet,
so you can imagine

how much more infrastructure
and people are at risk

as every foot sea level rises.

-Donnelly's findings confirm

that New York has always
been hit by hurricanes.

The next storm is coming,
and more people than ever

will be living along New York's
coasts when the city floods.

♪♪

This is how New York City's
coast looked in 1821,

when the last mega-storm
before Sandy hit --

stark, wild, flat
and vulnerable.

It's a salt marsh in New Jersey,
20 miles from Manhattan.

♪♪

-It's interesting to know that
sea level goes up and goes down

but if you want to correlate it
with climate,

you need to know when.

-Horton and his team also
use core-sediment samples

to research the prehistoric
climate of New York.

But instead of focusing on
the patterns of sand layers,

they look at microscopic
organisms to determine

if sea levels have risen
dramatically

in the prehistoric past.

-The four meters of sediment
represents approximately

the last 2,000 years
of Earth's history.

It's a nice sample.

We take these cores back

and we try and record precisely
how sea level has changed.

Has it accelerated?
Has it decelerated?

And then correlate those
with changes in climate.

♪♪

The microfossils that we're
looking at under the microscope

are single-cell organisms
known as foraminifera.

Okay, let me have a look.

-Horton's looking for
microscopic fossils

that come from the marsh
when water is at its highest

and lowest.

The presence of these fossils

gives a clear picture
of changing sea levels

across hundreds of years.

-So, based upon the changes
in the abundance

of any individual species

tells you how sea level
has changed through time.

-The research shows that
for well over 1,500 years,

sea levels were stable.

200 years ago, that changed --

not coincidentally,
with the Industrial Revolution.

-Beginning in the latter part
of the 19th century

is where sea level accelerated.

When we correlate climate
and sea level,

we see a near-perfect
relationship --

whenever climate warmed,
sea levels accelerated.

One of the fundamental questions

that, as climate scientists, we
are asked is,

is the modern rate of change
unprecedented?

We were able to show that

the rates of sea-level rise
in the 20th and the 21st century

had not been seen for
the previous 2,000 years.

The latest projections predict

that New York City would receive

an upper estimate of sea level
of around two meters by 2100,

or around six feet.

We're living in
a very, very unusual time.

We have a clear choice, and
therefore we still have hope.

But if we don't make urgent
action, then all bets are off.

-With a six-foot sea rise,
according to Horton's research,

a full 280 square miles of
New York will be lost forever,

a sunken city.

600,000 New Yorkers
will lose their homes.

300,000 jobs
will be displaced or lost.

The poorest
will take the hardest hit,

with 12,000 public-housing
units cut off by the sea.

The people working the problem
on the ground

now seek solutions,

to rebuild and protect New York
for the 22nd century.

This is what's called,
the BIG U.

It's an ambitious megaproject

that would protect the
$500-billion business sector

in lower Manhattan,

the epicenter
of the American economy.

-My name is Kai Uwe-Bergmann.

-Uwe-Bergmann is an architect
who leads the BIG U project.

-We have proposed 10 miles
of contiguous flood protection

stretching from West 57th,
58th Streets

along the entire coastline

to the tip where Battery Park
is right now,

and then back up the East River
to the 30s.

That would protect
all of the geography

that is currently
below the flood line.

-The BIG U is a massive sea
wall, in places 20-feet high,

that would protect the most
vital business district

in the U.S. from sea-level rise
of up to 15 feet.

Its surface would be
primarily parkland,

with sports facilities,
playgrounds,

and bike and walking paths

all along
the 10 miles of coastline

it is designed to protect.

-In the case of New York,

there was a realization
that climate change

is something that
we need to address.

You can think of the BIG U
as actually a giant gutter,

because it also is dealing
with all of the rain

that's hitting the streets
while a hurricane event

or a storm event is happening.

The BIG U has also
a contiguous bike trail,

so if it were all built out,
all 10 miles,

you could ride a bicycle
for 10 miles

and never cross a street.

You could say that the coastline
of Manhattan

is actually going from
a working waterfront

to one that is about leisure,

it's about health and well-being

and making the waterfront
accessible.

-The BIG U will be realized
in stages,

the first being a 2.5-mile
stretch on the Lower East Side.

The city has approved the plan,
with a budget of $305 million.

Trever Holland lives
in a neighborhood

the BIG U would protect.

As a lawyer and a resident,

he took part in meetings
with the developers,

who say the project would
protect Two Bridges

from the rising sea.

-This neighborhood
has planning fatigue.

We've been
to dozens of meetings.

Dozens of meetings
about what we're gonna do.

We're gonna change this,
we're gonna add this,

and a lot of those plans
wind up on the shelves.

You go through this
process of trying to figure out

a way to protect the
neighborhood

and you wind up with a nice,
big, glossy booklet

that sits on a shelf
and nothing happens.

-That's not Holland's
only problem with the BIG U.

-We fought so long to get access
to the waterfront.

And now, one of the solutions
that they're proposing

is to basically close it off.

We're gonna build 10-foot walls
all made of concrete

and you'll be protected --
Good to go.

We've been asking
"Is this the only solution?

Is there anything else,
or are we just looking at walls?

I mean, what have other
cities done?"

-Holland's not alone.

There are others
who think the BIG U

is a step
in the wrong direction.

-In Rotterdam,
they are designing

underground parking garages,

so if they know
a storm is coming,

they evacuate the cars and they
build that parking garage

so that it can be a
water-holding tank

that holds millions of gallons
of water.

So that water doesn't go out
into the community

and then when the water recedes,

they have a mechanism
to pump the water out

of the parking garage.

The parking garage
does double duty.

So, there are ways to design
around these problems.

I don't think the answer is
you're gonna retreat from

all of Lower Manhattan.

We have to figure out how to
build things more resiliently.

-Geophysicist Klaus Jacob
has other concerns.

-How high
do you make those seawalls

before you are in a prison?

And that's not
a sustainable solution.

-That's a dystopian picture.

It's just a wall.

And most of it, in fact, is just
a concrete and rebar wall.

And I think that
going in that direction

makes our cities more brittle.

It's so easy
for that wall to break.

I mean, I worked in New Orleans
for eight years. Walls break.

Unexpected things happen,
a barge whacks up against it.

There's always something
unexpected.

-Hill's greatest concern
is that all walls

eventually have to come down.

She believes
in building in layers,

with every generation
contributing to

the work done by the last.

-A wall, that's rigid,
that's fixed in place.

The design is only
for that specific location.

We should spend that
same amount of money

to put things in place
that can be added to.

We need to build the foundation
for future generations.

-Urban architect Pippa Brashear

agrees that living behind a wall
is a future she cannot imagine.

-It's fundamentally
gonna change the culture.

Is that the New York City
we want to live in?

It's not the New York City
I chose to live in.

One of my greatest fears
for the future of New York City

is that we won't get past
that protect question.

-I'm a little bit of a sceptic
in anything that says,

"Oh, we're gonna keep the water
out over here,"

because it's gonna go somewhere.

It was conceived
of as a big giant wall.

And they might've said,
"We're gonna put grass on it

so it'll look nice" but
it's still a big giant wall.

This notion that we're just
gonna build a giant fence

around New York City
and keep this from happening,

is not either practical
or, in some ways, ethical.

-It's anything but a dumb wall.

-Kai Uwe-Bergmann
welcomes others

to come up with a better idea.

-It is going to be a place
that a person can actually go,

inhabit, use 100% of the time

and then be reassured that
it's actually protecting them

against the sea surges.

-He says
a short-term radical solution

is better than none at all.

-I think the biggest risk
is not doing anything.

Many of these communities have
heard repeatedly

that something would be done,

and I think that the biggest
fear is that another storm event

would come and flood them out
of their homes again

and they have to deal
with the loss.

-Broad Channel
is a little island in Queens,

in the middle of Jamaica Bay.

It is a tiny place.

I don't think anybody
ever heard of it...

unless you live in,
you know, in the area.

I have talked to a lot of
people that live, you know,

in Manhattan and they have
no idea what Broad Channel is.

I've been here, you know,
since I'm four years old.

The same neighbors
I had as growing up

are the same neighbors
I have today.

My wife was born
in Broad Channel also.

Her whole family's
from the town.

♪♪

-For years,
Bassetti lived in a world

that somehow escaped change.

Then, about a decade ago,

high tides flooded the streets,
even on sunny days.

-You just get used to it.

The high tide comes up, I gotta
get my daughter to school.

"All right. Get on my back,"

and you piggy-back her up
to the corner

to get her to school on time.

This was a full-moon high tide.

This picture
is one of my favorites.

Day I was taking my son home
from the hospital.

He was just born.
He was three days old.

When you live in Broad Channel,

you take off your shoes and
you carry him down the block.

That is total Broad
Channel-living right there.

-Superstorm Sandy

turned the inconvenience
into a catastrophe.

-You couldn't stop it.

There's nothing that could stop
that water from coming in.

-Bassetti and his family
evacuated to Brooklyn...

...and returned two days later.

-So, when I finally get
to my house I go,

"Well, this ain't that bad."

Well, it didn't get bad

until we started doing the work,
you know.

First, all right,

let's start throwing out
everything that's wet,

you know, let's empty out
underneath the sinks,

underneath the closets,
let's get rid of these couches.

♪♪

-By the time they are done,
there is nothing left to save.

Bassetti joined the city's
Build It Back program.

With a whopping $2.2-billion
budget,

Build It Back encourages
homeowners and businesses

to rebuild higher and stronger,

more resilient
against the rising seas.

The city has replaced
over 1,400 homes,

repaired and reimbursed
6,500 more

with about 1,000 remaining
under construction.

-Build It Back
is raising the home for me.

They're raising the house 11
feet from where it started from,

which would put me a few feet
above that national flood line.

I'm hoping I'm prepared enough.

I'm hoping my house is raised
high enough

where the water comes in
and I'm not affected.

But I...

Who knows? It's Mother Nature.

You can't predict
what she's gonna do.

-Frank is one of thousands
who are determined to defend.

He'll never leave.

-Never even crossed my mind.

This was a great place
to grow up,

and I want my kids to have
the same environment.

The house behind me
is the house that I own.

-But there was a second
option -- "managed retreat."

New York City and State
also encouraged people

to stop investing
in flood-prone areas

and leave the land to revert
to its natural state.

600 homeowners took this buy-out
including Frank Moszczynski.

-Ocean Breeze
was pretty much fantastic.

It really was. It was paradise.

I miss everything about it,
most is the people that we lost.

-Two of Moszczynski's neighbors

died here
during superstorm Sandy.

-It was the ideal spot to put
something just to say,

"Hey, we'll never forget ya."

Both in their 80s,
pillars in their community,

great people, and just not
supposed to die this way.

We had
a typical white picket fence,

front porch right here,

and my house would be
from right here, on back.

Paradise 364 days a year,
until the day the storms came.

My house still had about
three feet of water in it.

It was still on the foundation,

but it had been
completely submerged.

So, it was...

devastation.

I did go inside, everything
was turned upside down.

And I knew
there was gonna be nothing,

nothing at all savable.

And that's when it
really hit me.

Three hours
and we don't own anything.

One of the neighboring areas
on the east shore

started talk of a buy-out.

One day I received a call from
the governor's representative,

"Congratulations,
you were very successful...

your area has the option of
the New York State buy-out."

-Homeowners received
full market value

for their houses
in exchange for leaving.

-They took the house down
and as you can see,

we're standing here and there's
just grass growing right now.

It's doing
what it was supposed to --

going back to nature, and nature
is slowly reclaiming it.

And the animals
are coming back, too.

Some people decided to stay.

You know what?

It's America,
so they have choice.

If they wanna put themselves
in that predicament,

and their family,
that's their choice.

-One bold engineering project

is giving the coastal
communities of Staten Island

hope.

-What if we just look at this
a whole new way,

look at the problem a new way
and look for new solutions?

-Pippa Brashear is an urban
planner and landscape architect.

She works with a team that
believes the answer

is to stop trying
to fight the sea,

but to learn to live with it
and even harness it to do good,

not harm.

-The design project that
ultimately came out of it

was our Living Breakwaters
project.

The project is located on the
southern tip of Staten Island.

It was really pummeled
by waves during Sandy.

Our Living Breakwaters project,

it's a system of offshore
breakwaters.

Each of the individual
breakwaters range

from about 300-feet long
to 450-feet long

and they are spaced along
the shoreline

to really protect it
from the most damaging waves.

The largest breakwaters that are
positioned to really knock down

those large storm waves,
they have to be tall enough

that they're still peaking above
the top of the water when

you have those really elevated
surge levels like Sandy.

And so those crest elevations
are at about 14 feet

above main sea level.

-Rather than a continuous
sea wall,

the breakwaters are
a series of raised surfaces

that slow storm surge.

It's an old concept,

but the ecological element
is a new twist.

-Much of the breakwaters
will be made from stone,

but we're also using these

bio-enhanced concrete
armor units

to help jumpstart the ecology.

The chemical content
of the concrete

has been adjusted
to attract organisms.

This is a scale model of one.

It's about half the size of what
the actual armor units will be,

four feet by four feet.

One of the premises that we had

was we have to actually
restore the environment.

Historic habitats, wetlands,

oyster reefs
have been decimated.

Can we recreate
that complex aquatic habitat,

to really build back
this environment?

-I think the Living Breakwaters
project is great.

It's something flexible.

If the rocks don't work
right there, you move the rocks

or you make a new pile of rocks.

Those strategies
we can actually do

and we can export them
to other cities.

There are opportunities
and, you know,

there always gonna be surprises,

like oysters
on those breakwaters.

Well, when the ocean
is more acid,

I don't know about oysters, but
something will live on there.

-People are looking for ways
to buy time.

-I'm not sure we can reverse it,
but can we slow it down?

Yes, I think we can
slow it down.

At least as far as the subway
system and our commuter rails,

I'm committed to make them
as resilient as possible

for what we can expect over
the next 100 to next 200 years.

-Right now we have about
104 subway entrances

that we find
that are critical facilities

that are in the floodplain.

We use flex gates, marine doors.

-I call them submarine doors.

They basically
close each entranceway.

They get locked in place,
they're very heavy doors,

each one weighs
about 3,500 pounds.

-These can be deployed in
relatively quick time

to prevent water from entering
the subway system.

These are stop logs.

What happens is, these two beams
get locked in place

with these pins.

They get locked in place

and then as these logs
are stacked,

the pins slide into this beam

and as they get stacked
to the top...

...this whole area
then becomes watertight.

-Another innovation
is an inflatable plug

made of Kevlar
and waterproof fabric.

The plugs blow up like balloons

to block tunnels
against flooding.

Made from the same materials as
the airbags on the Mars rover,

strong enough to cushion
the spacecraft

if it lands on rocks,

these tough balloons fill up
with 35,000 gallons of air

in just three minutes.

But the airbags need to be
perfectly packed and deployed

to provide a watertight seal.

-I don't think much
of the plugs,

those round balls
that get filled up with air

that will plug it
and all of that.

You need something a little bit
better than some kind of plastic

or polymer filled with air
to be able to block the water.

As we all know, water is
extremely strong and powerful.

-And at $400,000 each,

the city decides
they are too expensive

to plug all 14 of their
under-river subway tunnels.

-It's very, very important

that we recognize
that climate change is real.

And if you don't want to
recognize

that climate change is real,

we do have to recognize
the sheer fact

that water seems to be rising.

So, what do we do
to mitigate that

and what do we do to mitigate

the risks that are involved
in that

so we can continue to operate?

Are we better off than others?

It's hard for me to know because
I've not done a comparison,

but I do know that
we're a lot better off today

than we were five years ago.

-The new Whitney Museum
in the Meatpacking District

appears to be one of the most
flood-resistant museums

in the country
and perhaps the world.

It was built for the future,

designed to be resilient

against rising sea levels
and storm surge.

Its loading dock is protected
by a waterproof flood door,

designed and built
by naval engineers.

The outer concrete wall
was reinforced

to become 100% waterproof.

Like the subway, the museum
also has a "stoplog system" --

a deployable barricade
that can be installed

in just eight hours in advance
of an approaching storm.

That doubles Sandy's storm surge
height in Lower Manhattan --

but it's in line
with future projections.

Urban architect
Vishaan Chakrabarti

believes that
the survival of New York

depends on designs
like the Whitney.

It comes down to new buildings
that can endure

the inevitable rising water
that's coming its way.

-You make sure the building
can flood,

which means that you get

all of the vulnerable
mechanical equipment

out of the basement.

-We're in the west tower
of the American Copper Buildings

here on the East Side
of Manhattan.

This building is designed around
the 100-year floodplain.

Our elevators
and our mechanical systems,

our power service, our pumps...

Those are all above
that elevation.

-You make sure that there's
a generator in the building.

It can't power
the entire building,

but it can power the elevators,

it can power at least one outlet
in every apartment

so you can charge a cell phone,
get information and so forth.

Have at least enough light
to live,

maybe keep
a refrigerator running.

-We're up here on the 48th floor
of the west tower.

This should be
our penthouse apartment.

Sweeping views
all over the city.

King of the world type
of apartment.

Instead, we have two megawatts
of emergency power.

We decided we're gonna
put the generators up here

because by sacrificing the
square feet up here,

even though we'd be renting them

for upwards
of $130 or $150 a foot,

we figured by not using those
square feet as an apartment,

we make all the rest of the
square feet in the building

that much more valuable.

Even when there's no commercial
power in this building,

you would be able to
live here.

-Those basic things can actually
dramatically change

what happens during a storm,

because if big buildings
are equipped to do that,

you then don't have this massive
exodus of people

who are trying to
get out of their homes

with flooded streets,
first responders,

all the other things that are
happening simultaneously

with that crisis.

It's not a very high-tech set
of solutions.

It's actually a fairly
low-tech set of solutions.

-The lobby is built above
the estimated high water mark

for flooding.

Even so, the building
is designed to flood.

And when the water recedes,

the damage is minimal

and residents can go
right back to their lives.

-What's unique about this lobby
is the material selection.

The floor is stone, the walls
are concrete, steel, and stone.

The portals are all steel

and the wood feature
that we wanted in the lobby,

is set off the wall so that
it's actually a vented system.

So if it ever did get wet,

we wouldn't be doing any sort
of demolition and replacement.

The expectation is that
eventually

something will happen,

and the building will get wet.

-Vishaan Chakrabarti has

his own megaproject
under construction in Brooklyn,

one of the most ambitious
and resilient plans

in the history of the five
boroughs.

-Domino Park is a
3-million-square-foot

new neighborhood that's being
built on the waterfront

in Brooklyn.

-Domino is a mixed-used
development

with 2,800 condo units,
1/4 of them affordable housing.

Its main feature
is a huge, six-acre park,

a quarter mile
along the waterfront.

-We just went out to the
community and we were very open

and honest with people and said,
you know, "Look,

this needs to be more
resilient."

And so, one of the first moves
we had made

during the master-planning
process

was to pull the buildings back
from the water

and actually make
a bigger park.

That resulted in more climate
resilience in the long term

because that park has a
tremendous amount

of porous surface --

grass, plant material
that will take on water.

So what happens is,
when a storm hits,

it will both slow the energy
of the storm

and absorb like a sponge
a lot of the water

that's coming into
the community.

It's also designed with
a natural grade of the land

so when the storm recedes,

the water will recede back
into the river more quickly.

-The buildings will also
have office and retail space,

so many residents can stay
put through a storm surge.

-Domino is it's an interesting
model to really think about

how you build in the world
that we're gonna be living in

in the next 100 years or so

in terms of flooding
and sea level rise.

-Developers and the City
now work together

to harden New York
against the rising sea.

This might prevent incidents

such as the transformer
explosion in Lower Manhattan,

during Sandy...
-Oh [bleep]!

-...that left 200,000 people
without power, heat or light.

-Our electric grid
now has the benefit of

an additional billion dollars
of hardening

that has been placed
into the grid

to make sure the lights stay on
the next time.

We're dealing with a very
complex set of new projects.

They've never been done before.

First of its kind in such a
dense urban environment

and we're moving them
as quickly as we can.

I'm hopeful
about New York's future

because of the ability
that New Yorkers have shown

to adapt to
any number of challenges

over its nearly
400-year history.

We're gonna be here, we're gonna
work with the threats,

we're gonna adapt and this
is gonna be a thriving city.

-Many will defend,

but some will be forced
to retreat.

That is New York City's
inevitable future.

-I don't think there's a
one-size-fits-all answer

to whether we should build
or not in the floodplain.

There's hundreds of thousands
of people in New York City

that live in floodplains.

And I think there
are probably some cases where

it just simply doesn't make
sense,

where it's not
just a floodplain,

it's a highly vulnerable
floodplain.

Retreat, in that instance,
might make sense.

-What this means for the future,

it means seawall
or levy protections,

storm-surge barriers.

Or the city could
encourage more building

in population on higher ground

and do things
to try to discourage

or buy people out who are in
these low-lying flooded areas.

-There are some
clear statistics out there

that for every dollar we invest
in risk reduction

that there's
a $4 avoided future cost.

Sandy was a $19-billion event

in terms of damages
and lost economic activity.

From the risks
of climate change,

that same event in the 2050s
could be a $90-billion event.

-I think we have to prepare
for the unexpected

and what that means is,
how do you create a city

that can recover from any number
of tough things happening to it,

whether it's a flood or a
tornado or a terrorist attack.

Cities are vulnerable, cities
have always been vulnerable.

Cities also have this
extraordinary way

of being resilient
and building back.

And so to me,
it's always about the basics --

mobility, power, water.

Fixing this is
not rocket science. Right?

It's simply a question of will.

-Urban engineering will
be the determining factor

in just how New York faces
its next great challenge.

It's a transformation that has
to happen if it is to survive,

and even thrive,
when the water comes.

-We have the situation that
about 1 million more people

are expected to move to
New York City

by the year 2030.

In addition,
waterfront is still considered

the most desirable real estate,

which is a notion from the past

that doesn't hold
for the future.

-If we're really going to adapt
to climate change,

it's about behavior change,
it's about us all thinking about

living with water differently.

And being willing to change
and adapt over time.

-This is our home,
and we want to keep it our home

and we want it to be a home
for our children

and our grandchildren as well.

So, now's the time to start
dealing with the problem.

-And I think if we do that,
this city,

which is one of the greatest
cities in the world,

will continue to be
for a long, long time.

-Next time on
"Sinking Cities"...

-Tokyo is like the Rolls-Royce
of city and engineering.

It has most of
the high-tech system

that you can find in the world.

♪♪

-Even though
we have been trying our best,

I don't think we can say

that we are fully prepared
for disasters.

-If you start
to have a major flood on Tokyo,

we all going to pay.

-[ Speaking Japanese ]

-Tokyo is defenseless
against such rainfall.

[ Indistinct shouting ]

♪♪

-To order "Sinking Cities"
on DVD,

visit ShopPBS

or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

This program is also available

on Amazon Prime Video.

♪♪