As sea levels rise New York plans for ‘greater impacts to life and infrastructure’

New York is looking beyond disaster recovery following a deadly superstorm 14 years ago towards making sure people living in the US city are protected from future extreme weather events. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy, which was downgraded to a superstorm once it hit New York, led to the deaths of 44 people and caused damage totaling $20 billion. Since then, authorities have launched a huge infrastructure project on the eastern side of the city’s Manhattan island which will provide protection from future storms and widely projected rises in sea levels. Daniel Dickinson met Eric Ilijevich, the city’s Director of Coastal Resiliency Design, by the East River, a tidal area of New York harbour, and began by asking him to describe the location of the project.