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Study Suggests the Big Apple is Sinking

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Knowledge Nuggets:

  • The weight of New York City’s skyscrapers and buildings, nearing 1.7 trillion pounds, is causing the city to gradually sink into surrounding bodies of water at a rate of 1-2 millimeters per year.
  • This subtle descent increases the city’s vulnerability to natural disasters, with Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens facing significant risks.
  • The city’s sinking has been linked to more severe flood hazards in the future, compounded by the effects of climate change and the city’s non-compliance with floodplain standards.

The iconic New York City skyline might be a symbol of aspiration and progress, but a recent study suggests that the sheer weight of these imposing structures could be causing the city to sink into its surrounding waters.

This is a slow process, happening at a rate of 1-2 millimeters per year, but according to lead researcher Tom Parsons of the United States Geological Survey, it has significant implications for the city’s susceptibility to natural disasters.

The city’s subsidence is not uniformly distributed, with areas such as Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens experiencing a greater sinking rate, thereby increasing their exposure to flood hazards.

Given the concentration of 8.4 million people in these areas, the consequences of this subsidence are far-reaching and potentially devastating.

The city’s urbanization has exacerbated the drainage issues within the city, as evidenced during Hurricanes Sandy in 2012 and Ida in 2021, which caused widespread damage.

What’s troubling is that despite the city experiencing the harsh impacts of such events, many new real estate developments post-Sandy have not been built to floodplain standards.

This lack of action indicates an underestimation of the impending threat, putting the city’s structures and population at heightened risk.

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14 Comments

14 Comments

  1. Timothy

    May 20, 2023 at 10:24 am

    we are ALL sinking, in debt

  2. Armond Fukbukitt

    May 21, 2023 at 7:01 pm

    Good! With the population of the 5 borrows out of the way, New York state will finally elect law makers that protect the innocent, put criminals in jail and throw illegals out of the country. After it sinks, I’ll scuba down to Wall Street to salvage the Big gold Bull to put on my lawn.

  3. Mike Nelson

    May 23, 2023 at 4:18 am

    Where on earth will the homeless sleep?It may become water world.Will the power grid stand up to this?Can the machines make it? Can A I swim?

  4. graceythecat

    May 24, 2023 at 6:44 am

    Hell is gobbling up the scum of the commie democrat lying pedophile cult party, and not quick enough.

  5. Jdd

    May 24, 2023 at 7:02 am

    Let’s see. At the alarmists’ rate, it will sink one meter in the next 1,000 years. If this study is accurate we just might be able to deal with it over the next millenia. More alarming are the comments from people who hate our greatest city, despite all the great people and minds that it has nurtured. It is a sure sign of moral decline and anti-intellectual bias in our nation, one reason why we elect mentally bankrupt people to head represent us. I recognize that the city has been mismanaged and harmed by the policies of incompetent liberal Democrats over the years, but can one imagine the French speaking of Paris this way? They are proud of their greatest city and do the best to keep it beautiful.

    • Ima Enyurphase

      May 24, 2023 at 9:30 am

      NYC is one big slum, just like Chicago, L.A, Seattle, Portland and many other large cities. Once great but, run by lib’s , and now sliding into being unlivable. Reap what they sow.

    • San Jose Mike

      May 24, 2023 at 10:20 am

      I think you’re wrong. Well educated people, including physicians have a conservative mindset that does not include socialism and Communism as a goal for the United States. As far as not liking NYC, I think it is a function of who is running it. There was a time when I enjoyed NYC. However, I have not been back there for over 40 years and have no intention to return. You are making a mistake to regard conservative people as “anti-intellectual.” However, it is a standard repertoire for progressives who wish to destroy the US because they hate it.

      Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)
      Retired surgeon

  6. 1PatriotForever

    May 24, 2023 at 7:49 am

    Perhaps sinking into its own sewer system would be best

  7. Kamikazecowboy

    May 24, 2023 at 8:04 am

    Ok and ? Time to flush the toilet and wash it clean, only if DC would sink while congress is in session and flush that cesspool

  8. SHRW

    May 24, 2023 at 10:49 am

    That is not climate change. That is over building and ignorance of geological conditions.

  9. ROBO

    May 24, 2023 at 11:53 am

    Add all those heavy EV batteries, and my biggest concern is that all that extra weight will cause Manhattan to tip over and capsize.

  10. Navy Bob

    May 24, 2023 at 4:47 pm

    Should Rep Hank Johnson (D-GA) be concerned that Manhattan would capsize like he was when they were debating moving the Marines from Okinawa to Guam? Shouldn’t AOC be out there protesting this to use as a wedge to get her Green New Deal boondoggle through Congress?

  11. Good Luck

    May 24, 2023 at 7:33 pm

    Sink, look at all the dumb Democrats that vote to destroy their own City and State. If we knew that all it takes to get rid of Democrats and their evil way is ADD WATER.

  12. Marvin (Nick) Saines

    May 25, 2023 at 6:27 pm

    As I recall most of the skyscrapers are build on crystalline bedrock. I never heard of bedrock sinking.

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