In Staten Island, waterways have been restored and connected, adding parkland and reducing flooding in nearby neighborhoods. Erin Schaff/The New York Times
New York is experiencing extreme rainfall events with increasing frequency and intensity, according to a 2024 study in Nature.
Since 1970, the city’s stormwater system has been built to handle up to 1.75 inches of rain per hour. Hourly precipitation recorded by Central Park’s rain gauge didn’t exceed this limit until 1995. It’s been eclipsed in three of the last five years.
Annual maximum hourly rainfall at Central Park 4 inches per hour Hurricane Ida: 3.5 inches per hour 3 Exceeded for first time in 1995 2 N.Y.C. sewer capacity 1 0 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 1948 4 in. per hour Hurricane Ida: 3.5 inches per hour 3 Exceeded for first time in 1995 2 N.Y.C. sewer capacity 1 0 1948 1970 1990 2010 2025
One major problem is how little of that rainfall is absorbed or stored before reaching the stormwater system. A whole suite of solutions focuses on building and expanding the city’s capacity to do so.
Understanding New York’s historical environment is crucial to imagining a more resilient urban future, one based on the city’s past topography, accordin
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