Gothamist75%
Flooding is becoming more frequent. Here’s how New Yorkers should prepare. 36%
By Iru Ekpunobi0% Janae Pierre0%
7/19/2026, 12:00:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 30 faulty reasoning types, including Confirmation Bias, Optimism Bias, and Indoctrination, with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 15.1% saturation with 178 hits. Analysis detected 1,746 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,177 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 43.4% and a BS Rank of 36% (12,159 of 18,787 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 64.70% of the article peer group.
New York City is prone to flooding during heavy rainfall, and the city’s aging stormwater and sewer infrastructure doesn’t help.
According to the New York State Climate Assessment, total precipitation in New York City is projected to increase between 4% and 11% by the 2050s relative to the 1981–2010 average.
As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of flash flooding in the city, “NYC Now” host Janae Pierre spoke to Furhana Husani, Director of Programs and Climate Initiatives at The Waterfront Alliance, a New York City-based climate resilience nonprofit, to understand why some neighborhoods flood more than others, what tools exist to track it, and what New Yorkers can do next time a flood warning hits.
Their conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity:
**Janae Pierre: We've had a lot of really big storms so far this year.
What's been your biggest challenge in 2026 so far?
**
**Furhana Husani:** Keeping up.
The weather changes and the weather patterns have been so extensive recently that it’s hard to keep track of when these extreme weather events are happening.
And one of the things that I hear often is that “it doesn’t flood here."
But that’s because our perception of flooding is very different from what it actually is.
**Can you break down what exactly flooding is and what it looks like?
**
There’s stormwater flooding, coastal flooding and groundwater flooding.
Stormwater flooding is the more obvious one.
The big rain events, such as May 20, 2026, where we saw people being swept away in the street.
It happens after extreme heat, where all that warm air carries rain and water and drops it very quickly in a short amount of time — these are called cloudburst events.
Coastal flooding where we see storm surges bumping up against the water’s edge and causing a lot of damage to coastal neighborhoods.
**Listen to the full conversation on NYC Now**
Groundwater flooding is the invisible kind, the kind that seeps up from the ground into our basements.
So, we often see social media posts of the sort of flooding going into the subway systems, but flooding is often less dramatic than that.
**How is this related to climate change?
**
The world is getting hotter.
Warmer air holds more moisture, so we see intense rainfall particularly after an extreme heat event.
What’s interesting is that the Northeast has experienced about a 60% increase in the heaviest rain events over the past century.
So this is a good example of how climate change is actually making a huge impact.
And our infrastructure was not built for this.
**Is flood damage generally covered by renter’s insurance?
**
That’s a complicated question.
Not always, but there’s an organization that helps navigate the insurance landscape called Flood Help NY.
You can put in your ZIP code and they’ll tell you what your risk is, they’ll tell you how to navigate the complications of flood insurance, and they’ll also help you get access to grants and loans to retrofit your home.
**You mentioned you speak to people who say they don’t experience flooding, why is flooding hitting some neighborhoods much harder than others?
**
It’s historic disinvestment.
One of the biggest factors behind this is historic redlining.
We work heavily in the South Bronx, in Red Hook, in Southeast Queens, in Elmhurst, Flushing Corona.
These are a lot of the historically disinvested and redlined neighborhoods, and you’ll also see a lot of overlap for where the most flood risk is as well.
Something that we’re really trying to understand is how do we now get particular neighborhoods to build preparedness?
This infrastructure takes years to improve and invest in.
**What is the city doing to acknowledge all of that?
**
Actually, quite a bit.
But the issue is these planning efforts require decades.
There are smaller things that can be done, which the city is starting to look into, such as these catch basins (also known as stormdrains).
Many of them get filled up with garbage, and one of the things we could do is as simple as putting garbage cans on as many street blocks as possible, to help reduce the amount of literal garbage on catch basins.
**Can you talk about the network of flood sensors going up across the city?
**
It’s through FloodNet, which is such a cool initiative that’s run by a partnership between the city, NYU, and CUNY.
They’re coming together to establish a network of flood sensors for community members to know where flooding is happening.
And since people are the experts of their own neighborhoods, they can ask for sensors to be established in their own street.
These sensors measure the amount of rainfall in real-time, and there’s a live dashboard that you can pull up.
The dashboard also holds historic data, so residents can look at the flooding patterns, and use the data to advocate for better protection for themselves and their communities.
**As a neighbor, I’m concerned about people who live in basement apartments.
When there’s a flash flood warning, what advice do you have for those folks?
**
Everyone, no matter where they live, should sign up for Notify NYC.
They’ve established a basement apartment alert system which will help residents get a better sense of how to establish preparedness, and how to respond.
But knowing your neighbor is sometimes more important than infrastructure.
**While we’re talking about Notify NYC alerts, what’s the difference between flood watch and flood warning?
**
A flood watch is to be prepared.
A flood warning is to take action now.
**Say I just received a flash flood warning or a flash flood watch, and I still have plans.
Is it worth stepping out of the house?
**
If Notify NYC tells you rain will exceed anything above 1.75 inches of rain per hour, try to stay home.
It’ll take maybe 30 minutes for that cloudburst event to happen and a bit of time for flooding to subside, but it's not worth the risk.
Seek higher elevation, but don’t go out.
**Climate change isn’t going away, what happens to this city if we don’t get this right?
**
If we don’t tackle this now, our city is going to be less and less livable.
This city was built on a series of creeks, marshlands and wetlands.
Water will always want to go where water was, and if you map where some of the flooding is happening, you’ll see historic creeks underneath.
I think if we don’t get this right, flooding will continue to follow that path, and we’ll have to explore ways to retreat.
We should really start to explore where there are no-go zones for building housing.
**What are the main three tips that you have for New Yorkers?
**
1.
Sign up for Notify NYC by texting Notify NYC to 692-692
2.
Raise your voice.
Tell people where it's flooding.
Get those flood sensors and track that data.
3.
Get to know your neighbor.
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