I just returned from New York City. It’s been a couple of years since the flooding and damage from Hurricane Sandy, but recovery and adaptation continues. Seven subway stations are being updated to help prevent flooding as a changing climate brings more extreme storms and sea level rise.
The report “Climate Change 2013” from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has the range of sea level rise at between a little under a foot to 3.22 feet by 2100. Of course, it’s impossible to predict precisely what will happen in the future - too many variables. People love the sea and hind-sight is 20/20, but some areas near or below sea level should probably never have been built. Solutions have been to channel rising waters, build higher sea walls or in some instances like Oakwood Beach, Staten Island, NY there have been buy-outs to return land to nature.
The New York City Panel on Climate Change released a new report with even more alarming climate predictions. The "Business Insider" suggests it would be better to be safe than sorry.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/parts-york-city-flood-sea-205201580.html;_ylt=A0LEVr7TUedUKcsAGfgnnIlQ
http://www.businessinsider.com/terrifying-nyc-climate-report-projections-2015-2