NEW YORK CITY—While some New Yorkers' homes or offices were forever changed by Hurricane Sandy, for the vast majority of residents, the storm merely represents a one-time, tragic event and a bad memory.

Not so for Dan Zarrilli. As director of the NYC Office of Recovery and Resiliency, he's working hard to find and execute ways to protect the city both from future storms and other potential catastrophic events related to climate change. Speaking to the NAIOP NYC chapter Wednesday in Midtown, the busy executive outlined the extensive work being done by his office and partner organizations to make the city prepared for the next climate-induced disruption. The city received $60 billion in federal aid for such efforts.

“Hurricane Sandy was an idiosyncratic event but climate change is real and we could be subjected to regular tidal flooding by the 2050s as well as heat waves, intense precipitation and coastal flooding,” he said.

From an economic perspective, Sandy cost the city $19 billion (and 44 lives). The likelihood of a similar such storm will grow to 17% by the 2020s and 40% by the 2050s, according to Zarrilli. The damages of such an event could cost as much as $35 billion in the 2030s and $90 billion in the 2050s.

“This is a punch I don't think we can afford to keep taking,” he noted. “We can't make ourselves climate proof but we can be climate ready.” To that end, post-Sandy the city established a task force to study how to protect its key infrastructure systems and how to allocate expected federal dollars for storm relief in a most cost effective fashion.

To that end, a 10-year plan with an ambitious 257 initiatives—entitled “A Stronger, More Resilient New York”—was released last June. Thus far, 202 of the intended actions are underway, Zarrilli reported, and 29 have been completed. Last month, Mayor Bill de Blasio launched a $20 billion “One City, Rebuilding Together” plan that further looks to get the city “climate ready.”

Among the many steps that are being taken, the city has enlisted the help of the Army Core of Engineers to build new levees and strengthen the coastline. Zarrilli's office also is working with Con Edison on electric grid resiliency investments and many other entities to enhance the city's infrastructure. Land use changes are being considered while building construction regulations have been upgraded—with new construction already incorporating those requirement—and flood insurance affordability reforms have been made.

Much more is being done or in the works and among those efforts, New York City is working closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to update the floodplain, an effort that is slated for completion in 2016.

“There are 68,000 buildings in the floodplain and bringing them up to modern standards will be a generation long effort,” said Zarrilli. He advised building owners and investors to get involved.

“Look at the flood plain along with climate projections and examine how that affects your real estate portfolio, both in terms of the buildings and of residents' awareness. The Federal government may not show up with a subsidy after the next storm so we have a unique opportunity now to use federal dollars for investment and to buy down future risk.”

Instant Insights /

Storm Preparedness Is On NYC's Radar

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