Despite the loss of life and property, as well as frequent flash floods, the state of New York does not consider parts of Queens to be “disadvantaged” for the purposes of determining who should be prioritized for climate change financial aid — here's why
When the storm inundated the intersection 183rd Street and 90th Avenue, two people drowned in a basement apartment across the street from Baidya.
In 2019, New York lawmakers passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which promised"disadvantaged communities" – the ones hit hardest by climate change – should be prioritized to receive at least 35 percent of benefits associated with state spending on clean energy programs and investments in housing, workforce development, transportation, and economic development.
The DEC stressed the current map of disadvantaged communities is just a draft and the advisory committee may choose to include a metric for flash flooding risk in the future, especially if new data becomes available or is identified. But some say governments around the world already have the tools to begin incorporating flash flooding risk in their decisions about how to allocate storm resiliency and response dollars.
"Flash floods are happening now and the impact is getting worse and worse," Kruczkiewicz said."If you look at the loss of life from Sandy and Ida, it’s not that much different." "We write to urge the Climate Justice Working Group to ensure that flooding in coastal, tidal, and inland areas receive added weight as indicators," the letter read.
Over the past 20 years, floods have become the most common disaster across the United States. They are now happening three times more often than they were before the year 2000. LX News climate storyteller Chase Cain joins LX News to talk more about what's causing these floods and how this impacts the conversation around climate change in the upcoming election.