Picture a storm charging toward New York City, pushing a surge of seawater like the one that flooded the region during Hurricane Sandy. But this time, man-made islands with retractable gates stretch from the Rockaways in Queens to a strip of land in New Jersey south of Staten Island. The gates swing shut. A six-mile-long wall blocks the deluge, saving property and lives. The giant barrier is the largest of five options the Army Corps of Engineers is studying to protect the New York area as storms become more frequent, and destructive, on a warming Earth. The proposals have sparked fierce debate as New York, like other coastal cities, grapples with the broader question of how and to what degree it must transform its landscape and lifestyle to survive rising seas.
Those who support a barrier miles from Manhattan’s coast — one in the outer New York Harbor, out of sight from many residents and tourists — say it would be the best solution for protecting the most people, properties and landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty, from a storm surge swelling the East and Hudson Rivers, without cutting off the city from its waterfront. Catherine McVay Hughes, who led the community board in Lower Manhattan during Hurricane Sandy, supports the outer harbor barrier because, she said, protection measures built solely on the coastlines, yet high enough to ward off the biggest floods, would be unsightly.
“Do we want a 20- or 30-foot-wall between Battery Park and the river?” she asked. Advocates like Ms. McVay Hughes are attracted to the prospect of an enormous barrier that would protect much of the region. They also say that the use of locally tailored, onshore solutions alone, like berms, wetlands restoration and raised parks, would likely benefit wealthy areas first, not the low-income communities that suffered disproportionately from Sandy in 2012.