How NYC plans to survive the next superstorm

Sandy hit New York City almost six years ago and the city is still recovering. As storms grow even more frequent and severe, cities around the world are struggling to prepare themselves for the worst. We took a behind-the-scenes look at New York’s subway system to see all the disaster-grade gear the city is installing to help its people ride out the next “superstorm.”

[VergeScience]

How are you preparing for extreme weather?

[JustinY.]

"How about we take the storm and push it somewhere else?"

[PTNLemay]

It's really interesting when you can put a dollar value on the damage caused by environmental changes. It becomes not just an environmental issue, but a clearly economical one. Even totally business-oriented people who don't care about saving the polar bears can see the logic in acknowledging climate change when the result of ignoring it is billions of dollars in damages.

[SMPTEColorBars]

Those last 25 seconds: incredibly eye-opening. Thanks for adding that.

[medatef]

The ending of the vid though 😂 Great Video as usual Verge Science 😁👌

[LukasBrx]

Could you use metric units at least on the science channel? Your videos' facts are interesting even for non-Americans :)

[BestGameREEviewer]

Its always exciting to see a new Verge Science video. Top notch quality videos :)

[TechxGremlin]

You guys always bring interesting stories to us! Keep it up 👌🏾

[Krish_krish]

We need to spend money on fighting climate control as well, not just defending against it

[Peizxcv]

MTA cannot even keep train running when there is heavy rain and you think they are really prepared for a Sandy event?

[jaffawaffa]

This is where the focus should be. Being "Climate ready".

Netherlands have done a lot of work in farming on below sea level terrain, something world should be very interested in.

[LashanR]

Infrastructure is in place, as long as all the staff are trained an prepared to use all those preventative measures a lot less damage will be done :)

[coffeeOverBhairavi]

Do a video about how Japan is planning for similar disasters...

[PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

When Sandy was felt like a distant memory when it happened only 6 years ago! In a warmer Earth, more Sandy like Storms strike! Oh yea, here in NJ I was struck by Sandy, I remember lost of wind and rain, and watch the news and Wildwood being under 20ft of water, the thing is, in July of 2012, earlier that year, I was there on the beach! Sandy really washed memories away!

[TheAndroidNerd]

I'll be eagerly waiting every Tuesday!

[Solopolo]

hurricane isaias: i’ll be looking forward towards this

[NateOBrien]

This is why I am buying real estate in Denver...

[hello-cara]

I was in New York for sandy, we got a whole week off and people came to school once it was all over saying they had no power and my mom before the storm went to the store and so much was sold out

[lilaclizard]

Wow smart! I know they've spent a lot, but those are really simple, practical, down to earth, cheap sounding options that have real potential & aren't going to fail in an emergency.
More cities should follow!
Obviously a need for bigger, more comprehensive long term plans too, but this fixes the immediate threat in a really practical & no doubt as cost effective as possible way

[BitWoof]

A flash flood does THAT to your subways? Boy oh boy, I have no idea how you managed to construct them so poorly if they are so fragile. Post-USSR subways have pneumatic seal doors on every station to prevent water (for example in an event of an under-water tunnel collapsing and flooding the line) from flooding the surrounding stations or the entire subway line, and pretty much no amount of flash flood (granted we don't get hurricanes here but sometimes we do get those flash floods) would do that to any station because they all are built sturdy AF and have pumps and draining grates pretty much on all entrances. You just don't see them leaking like that as they are built using bomb shelter standards and simply don't leak because of all the cement and hard plating surrounding the stations and even their entrances...