Excerpt
GWEN IFILL (Newshour): This week marks a year since superstorm Sandy struck. More than 70 people were killed along the Eastern Seaboard. Damage totaled more than $65 billion, and it pounded New Jersey and New York City hard. It also prompted a reexamination -- a reexamination about how to prepare for future disasters.
The NewsHour’s science correspondent, Miles O'Brien, has the first of two reports for us, this on changes in New York.
MILES O’BRIEN (Newshour): Hurricane Sandy brought mighty Gotham to its knees. And one year later, the people who keep this city running are scrambling to figure out how to keep it dry as storms worsen and the sea level rises.
The Consolidated Edison power substation that sits at the end of 14th street right next to the East River is about six feet above sea level.
ROBERT SCHIMMENTI, Consolidated Edison: The water and electricity doesn't mix, obviously.
MILES O’BRIEN: Most of the electricity for Lower Manhattan flows through these transformers and relays, as long as they're not underwater. For over 50 years, the 11-foot-high flood walls worked just fine, until Sandy's storm surge pushed 14 feet of water over the banks of the East River.
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