“I can say unequivocally that the MTA last night faced a disaster as devastating as it has ever faced in its history, Metropolitan Transit Authority Chairman Joe Lhota said at a news conference today.”
From The Atlantic
Sandy's Damage So Far: More than $20 Billion
The storm has also brought to life a potential economic nightmare by flooding the New York City Subway system. In what MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota called the worst disaster in Subway's 108-year history, seven tunnels beneath the East River were inundated. Depending on how long it takes to restore the system, that damage could cause billions of dollars in additional losses. Here's what my colleague Derek Thompson wrote about that possibility yesterday in a piece looking at the economics of hurricanes:
In New York City, perhaps the worst-case scenario is the flooding of the subway system....In the event that the subway tunnels under the Harlem and East Rivers were out for more than a month, the economic cost could be $55 billion, [Klaus H. Jacob, a scientist at Columbia University's Earth Institute,] told the New York Times just this September. That figure alone is equal to half the estimated property damage of Hurricane Katrina -- and more than every other hurricane in U.S. history.
Here is the
link to the 2011 study by NYSERDA:
NEW YORK TRANSPORTATION SECTOR RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE (CLIMAID)
On Figure 9.20 they estimate it will take 15 days for 100% restoration of power
In Table 9.6 they estimate that it will take 21 days for NY to restore 90% of its transportation capacity with an estimated economic impact of 48 billion dollars due to lost economic activity.
This detailed case study of 100-year coastal storm surges for current sea level and two sea level rise scenarios has provided insights into the technical, economic, and social consequences of climate change. They demonstrate, by example, the potential severity of climate change impacts on the state’s transportation
sector. Timing of adaptation paths, institutional transformations needed to embed adaptation measures into decision making, and allocation of funding present serious challenges. There is a broad range of policy options and measures that can be implemented to avoid future climate-related losses and to provide the state
with a sustainable, climate-resilient transportation system.
----just for the record there is a new word in the lexicon, "Superstorm" is any storm making landfall with a barometric pressure equal to or less than 940 millibars. I have a bad feeling that this is the first of many. . .