Lower #Manhattan will be underwater in less than 80 years, climate experts fear.
A new report from a US Geological Survey member warns that #NewYorkCity is sinking under the massive weight of its own buildings.
Manhattan, in particular, will be more prone to natural disasters because of it.
Those two factors — combined with rising sea levels — could leave the Big Apple’s coastal areas unrecognizable by the turn of the century, according to geophysicist Klaus Jacob, a professor emeritus at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
“There could be as much as 6 feet of sea level rise [give or take] by the end of the century … then we will have a real problem on our hands in the city,” he told The Post.
“The best way to deal with rising sea levels combined with storm surge would be, of course, retreating to higher ground,” Jacob said. “But tell that to the property owners in lower Manhattan and other places that they have to move skyscrapers to a higher ground. That’s not going to happen.”
So, Jacob has an unorthodox proposal to manage what might come around at the turn of the century. He wants to convert lower Manhattan into a modern Venice and accept that its thoroughfares will become canals that people can live and work on.
“If we want to keep skyscrapers and other buildings functioning, they will need to become mini islands that are standing in the water,” Jacob said.
“They will have to be serviced not by taxis on wheels, but instead amphibian boats. Barges will have to come to pick up the garbage. And we need more highlines that connect the various buildings with each other.”
The Army Corps of Engineers is proposing a $52B construction of coastal seawalls to mitigate the looming circumstances.
But Jacob fears that the “piecemeal” approach doesn’t address the bigger picture concerns.
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