Why NYC’s Subway Keeps Flooding | WSJ Pro Perfected

[@wsj]

Climate cash pivots to new reality of a hotter, wetter planet: on.wsj.com/3WNizeg

[@Ree1981]

Bezos News covers storms getting worse and worse, but won't mention a word about the cause - Climate change. You also won't mention that it's eventually futile to keep "preventing flood damage" if sea level rise simply makes New York disappear. And oh! Would you look at that. The 'tongue', a huge block of ice that's holding back "the doomsday glacier" Thwaites, just disappeared about a week ago.

[@xxdesertstorm]

stop the spread of disinformation on sea level raise as it being debunked

[@TrueHelpTV]

They didn't "spend" 7.6 billion.. they weaponized unions to profit 7.6 billion knowing full well New York would just give them more money also knowing as a union city they'd have no choice but to hire them again. Democrat cities are a joke in 2024

[@timothymcglynn1935]

😮

[@Ree1981]

My reply to WSJ was censored.

[@XBKLYN]

The good news is the MTA works in lock step with nature so hundred year storms can be met with their once every hundred year upgrades.

[@pragmax]

Underrated comment.

[@samoryTure]

They're about to lock people in flooded subway stations.

[@Yutani_Crayven]

The sad state of lack of investment in public transportation in this country. And what's worse, lack of investment also means the relevant infrastructure to build all these things is greatly diminished as well, so when you do need to build them, everything will be 10x more expensive, because it's not done on a mass scale anymore.

[@TheFalseShepphard]

​@Yutani_Crayven Who cares, I drive my Ford Raptor to anywhere anyways

[@guydreamr]

Platinum

[@cmair77]

My uncle is a retired MTA employee and that was his job, keeping water out of the subway on a daily basis

[@trainwreck420ish]

Eeesh feel sorry for him now

[@drink15]

They need to hire him back!

[@cwg73160]

@@trainwreck420ishYou feel sorry for him because he’s retired?

[@xdxdsheep]

With a bucket?

[@kirk2767]

@@xdxdsheep sponge...

[@surielmoon]

There's something mistaken about Taipei Metro system. We raised our entrance mainly for storm and typhoon (hurricane) , not for tsunami. Also when rain flood so heavy that flood gate are closed and fence are set. Usually Gov will announce everyone better stay at home and don't go to school/work. Even shutdown service for safety.(Already almost no one will appear to take metro)

[@conan2k]

Really? Here they say come to work anyway and good luck.

[@uptowndunker6346]

It’s america, we live to work not take days off, not that we can

[@Distress.]

In the US we just blame everything on climate change and throw our hands up the in air.

[@david_bopit_music11]

Oh, don’t get me started with school because even if it is sad about that the school has the nerve to send some students to school but if not, they have to do a zoom but here’s the thing not that many students have access to their next students account anymore so I don’t know what’s the whole point of that second and you sent him to school in the middle of a situation with the upcoming flooding rain is that said that a student should be learning well is the school who should be learning about upcoming storms and what are their potential purpose even is even the danger in the risk so technically the asking pretty much disaster I don’t even know all I can say is that the school they sent students to school last year on September 29 with the heavy rain of a storm, but during that time, there was also a little bit of a peak of a tropical moisture up there that caused the rain to cause multiple flash floods. Both of the schools decided to end of school at a normal time was some schools end around 1 o’clock in the afternoon And I don’t know why they did that they should at least close school on that they fully fired but nope so I don’t know what the heck is going on with the school system anymore but if this happens again, I’m staying home and I don’t care if I had to do a homework. OK I will die or get in trouble. I am protecting my life, not putting it at risk

[@MP-vc4nu]

Let’s not forget a lot of those workers follow protocols to prevent the flood in too. But it’s not really achieved in US because there’s barely enough workers for that, while they require much higher salaries and 50% of their “income” really gone to “tax” for nowhere instead…

[@godlugner5327]

As the New York City building engineer I can tell you that the storm water is going to be our biggest issue in the future besides the electrical grid

[@ISISareDemocrats]

Not all the crime and homeless people? Or does that wash away with the rain?

[@nikkey8951]

⁠​⁠@@ISISareDemocratsthey are clearly discussing infrastructural problems. why would they, as an engineer, bring up homelessness?

[@MrJCerqueira]

as a nyc engineer (which lets face it, you're not) you'd be the least credible person to comment on this.

[@OscarLT321]

As the mayor of New York I can say we will continue to invest in more homelessness

[@hurtigheinz3790]

I once watched a docu about NY sewer systems and construction crews can work on 1% of the city's sewer in 1 year!

[@fourtyfivefudd]

It keeps flooding because it’s NYC. And in NYC fashion, nothing proactive and preventative ever gets done about anything, even when it breaks. When someone breaks and they do finally decide to do something about it, they put a bandaid on it instead of actually fixing the root cause of something, so it just keeps happening because it was never fixed in the beginning.

[@ashakydd1]

They basically need to re-engineer the entire system from end to end.

[@Dragon_of_Terra]

@@ashakydd1 tbf it would most likley cost billions to permantly fix it and at that point you might aswell just build a whole new network and block off the old one

[@RobertSmith-up9rz]

@@Dragon_of_Terra Wouldn't cost so much if infrastructure maintenance in NYC wasn't drowning in mafia-type unions and politicians/administrators behaviors.

[@MrShanester117]

It’s absolutely insane that Hurricane Sandy was 12 years ago already. Time really does fly

[@DotADBX]

They should just take a clue from futurama and just raise the city to future flood levels thus solving the problem once and for all.

[@michaelkhoo5846]

That is actually what Chicago did, in the 1860s.

[@DrkGddss]

ONCE AND FOR ALL!

[@DotADBX]

@DrkGddss hey you got the reference.

[@InconsistentManner]

just ask the Dutch... lets build a system to not only control water but reclaim land... Fun Fact the Dutch have been reclaiming land and protecting their coast since the 1300s.

[@joermnyc]

@@michaelkhoo5846Seattle also did that, they just built the street and sidewalks up one level, the original ground levels under the streets are still accessible via a walking tour.

[@zacharyhenderson2902]

Who would've thought digging below the ground water level and creating entrances that bring most of the rainfall into the subway would create water problems.

[@Crazy-Clown-In-Town]

Water wasn’t invented yet when they built the subway.

[@sephikong8323]

​@Crazy-Clown-In-Town No no, you got it all wrong, Water WAS invented at the time, it was just still floating freely into the air because Newton hadn't invented Gravity yet, the tunnels were made so that people wouldn't become lost in the skies

[@Yutani_Crayven]

@@Crazy-Clown-In-Town I heard water back then was black and white, so installing a simple color filter would keep it out then. This doesn't work anymore.

[@kornkernel2232]

Well, a lot of infrastructure built back on those days didn't really account of many of the potential nature problems that we know these days, not counting the actual climate issue. Either its shortsightness or simply we just don't know any better century(s) before. It was era during early days of industrialization that we just build so fast as well, so even things we know might have taken shortcuts because we think that is okay back then and maybe too optimistic, we may able to solve any issues in the future.

[@HenriNoddnsock-xd7jw]

Shame on you, Zachary. You make way too much sense.

[@cloud-dragon]

6:50 In Minsk City (Belarus) subway system ventilation is 1-2 meters above the ground. Those 5 cm won't help against anything.

[@lkj974]

Those horizontal "flood walls" at street level subway entrances? Are you kidding me? Those don't look much more substantial than retractable awnings!

[@awesomestuff9715]

"no step" implies that it can be damaged by somebody standing on it as well

[@sabotabby3372]

@@awesomestuff9715 or that its unsafe to climb

[@fernandomarques5166]

You'd be surprised how the weight of the water can be used against it to seal a leak, a good example is a piece of equipment called a "collision mat" its in essence a large piece of rubberized canvas not unlike the "flex gates" presented in this video, they are used on ships to drastically reduce the intake of water generated by a gash in hull by being drapped over the side in front of the hole, it uses the hydrostatic pressure of the water outside the ship to form a tight seal between the canvas and the hull severely diminishing the rate of water ingress. It's the same physics being applied on the flex gates, its idea is not to be a 100% watertight seal but to be a 90% watertight seal that while it leaks it leaks a manageable amount of water that the dewatering pumps can keep up and not let the tunnels completely flood, because for a multitude of reasons they probably wont be able to raise every station entrance before the next flood hits.

[@the_steamtrain1642]

I'm sure some smart people did the required calculations but it does look really flimsy especially when you think about how much water weighs

[@MRSketch09]

Well at least the engineer is smart enough to look at what other Subways are doing around the world. Give them credit for that.

[@bobzelley5100]

Precipitation intensity changes is regional some areas had increased , others decreased . The increase in totol Precipitation over the past 100 years has increased only 0.03 feet . The duration of the recharge event has decreased , thus , increased energy and stormwater calculations used by hydrogeologists and engineers are being updated . The higher intensity has broad consequences, from combined sewer , catch basins , detention basins , sheet flow in a field , along with large trees falling due to the ground conditions. 100 year storms occurs every 7 to 8 years in the most significant effected, . Maps are available for the united states shown on a country basis . The solar fields construction are nearly all impervious surface , thus. The high intensity storms are creating significant challenges.

[@bobzelley5100]

The increase in wet bulb values is killing people in the united states on a weekly if not daily basis. The number of parents that exposed infants and toddlers to conditions to high wet bulb reading , thus , the body can to shed heat because the moisture content on the air prevents dehydration leading to quick over heating a deaths. Also, as men age , say over 50 , they naturally store a higher percent of fat , a generic artifact that was needed for old men to survive a winter . This fact is why the ability to cool off with age and leads to me that had no problems hiking a certain utah trails 20 years ago doesn't return

[@catsupchutney]

GEP = Good Engineering Practice

[@oatmealman1586]

Most engineers are good at what the do. Unfortunately, they have to listen to and follow the commands of business men who barely qualify to hold their positions. We could design a perfect metro system, it's just that the guys at the top think it's too expensive and don't wanna do it.

[@animehuntress9018]

@@oatmealman1586 Attack their bottom line. Literally. Take a decade worth of losses and average it out and then compare it to what your asking for... then slam them with the projected losses if they don't use the preventive measures... Money talks and while its not an engineers job to work out the money side of things and it should be a financial consultants job... the consultant wants to keep his job so he's gonna low ball every time. None of them are considering the human impact because for them it doesn't exist, but money talks. USE IT!

[@finally_dorian]

1:50 how thoughtful that they flash Paris on the screen before I can ask about their Seine River project 😅

[@ikmarchini]

Having lived thru 2 Paris floods I can report that the water never entered the city streets. The quais are over 20 feet high. But a single river versus the Atlantic is another thing.

[@knightwolf3511]

at lest it's cleaner 😅 people may hate it but if they waited 100 more years after inflation $1.5 billion (1.4 billion euros) it has to be done at some point just hopefully it will return natural in 50 years at lest but may take 100 years

[@yaush_]

NYC is the kind of city to keep their subways running even when the city is flooded.

[@ColtanFree]

I've been riding the subways since I was a kid in the early 70s and I don't recall any major subway floodings during that period. I only recall major station floodings in the 80s/90s out there on the Queens Blvd line. I believe all this building construction boom might have played a role in how water is being diverted.

[@RyuAuhuo]

8:08 as a dutchman, I immediately recognised those ideas for what we've developed here in the 50s to 90s as the Delta Works. Might want to call in some Dutch Engineers!

[@trialfail]

This is the definition of avoiding a fix and just delaying the inevitable.....

[@jaimetorres3113]

Not a matter of IF but WHEN NYC won't be able to hold back the Atlantic Ocean.

[@vrclckd-zz3pv]

The Netherlands manage it

[@MartijnPennings]

​@@vrclckd-zz3pv It does sound like New York could use some Delta Works like the Netherlands, but it took a big catastrophe with 1800 deaths and decades of planning and building. Presumably it would take tens, maybe hundreds of billions of dollars. Also, the Delta Works are to prevent flooding from storms, not the rising sea levels.

[@vrclckd-zz3pv]

@@MartijnPennings I was talking about plonders not Delta Works

[@Dingleberry1856]

@@MartijnPenningssea level isn’t rising.

[@MartijnPennings]

@@Dingleberry1856 if you trust any oceanographer, climate scientist, NASA scientist or just any scientist with any credibility, then yes is is and it is even accelerating. If you don't believe this, please give any proof to the contrary.

[@hhydar883]

Okay, hear me out, instead of putting billions into sealing off the spaces from flood/rainwater, how about we invest in the projects that can help the city better integrate WITH the unwanted water. These boroughs are built in a grid street pattern so we can dig out a few of them, deep enough to hold excessive water in the event of flooding, and turn them into little canals with ample green space around for the rest of the year. We can learn or even take expertise from Korea, China, and the Netherlands in this regard.

[@CHMichael]

Didn't necessarily understand the beginning ( im more visual... not your fault) But looking at what works In other countries is always a great idea. Why reinvent the wheel.

[@victorlee6129]

Yeah there are already tons of bioswales being installed aronud NYC - it's already happening; there's no reason why you can't do two things at once.

[@mandi9558]

no, that's too good of an idea. they couldn't possibly go with that

[@walker1054]

With your idea I'd say yeah definitley. Like close off the road on a single side of a block every few blocks, dig it down to like 20 meters deep, then cover it with a green space/park. The point in the video where they're like "nope can't raise the grates, will get in the way of the narrow sidewalk" sucked because they're literally next to a 6 lane road in the middle of the city, just remove ONE lane at least and boom now the sidewalk is now over twice as big even with the vent shaft raised up. In London our vent shafts are huge and are well above the surface, sometimes like 15ft+ and hidden in a statue or a building or something. NYC seems to not be doing well with reducing the amount of cars/traffic in the city though so I can't imagine them removing lanes soon. They just cancelled the congestion charge system which has been proven to work in London for 20 years now, it had an instant drop in cars by like 20% there and increased bus speeds dramatically. Sp Introduce the congestion charge to reduce the amount of vehilces a lot, then you can now remove 2 lanes along the roads the subways follow and convert it to sidewalk, and with that now huge public "sidewalk" space you can even redesign the entrances completely and raise every vent however high you want. Can make the entrances twice as wide and more nice and open, build the flood measures into them including raising them. Can introduce an elevator down to the platform too with the new street space. It's time NYC starts reducing the amount of 6 lane roads through the city. NYC has it on easy mode with how easy it would be to make very nice. Places like London stuggle with road space because they're all already tiny so even adding a bike lane is impossible in most of the city center, but new york has space to add literal parks along their roads, they could add 50 parks and barely touch 10% of their roads.

[@garyoak2974]

Basically what the los angeles river is

[@1IlIlIlIlIlIlIl]

do rebuild the station or platform one by one. or install screen doors and prevent flooding, even if it's a railroad like south korea. That way, you can avoid a full service of metro outage.

[@techcafe0]

We pave over nature and live & work in concrete jungles, then wonder why roads & tunnels get flooded in a rainstorm 🤷‍♂ where's the water supposed to go? It cannot seep into the ground through impermeable concrete & asphalt; and storm drains can't handle the deluge. The city becomes a bathtub.

[@PershingOfficial]

There actually are pavers that allow water to be absorbed in the ground.

[@youngeshmoney]

That's not how it works, it's not that the water cannot seep into the ground, it's that the ground is already saturated. The ground is a sponge, once it has absorbed as much as it can, it won't absorb more

[@techcafe0]

@@youngeshmoney asphalt & concrete are impermeable surfaces. instead of seeping through-into the ground below, water from a torrential downpour accumulates quickly on paved surfaces, especially in low-lying areas, where the deluge eventually ends up; flooding highways, roads, streets & buildings. our paved-over, built-up environment is completely out of tune with what mother nature demands.

[@tinyturtle1898]

@@PershingOfficial Yea, those pavers exist, there are just not much of them in NYC

[@nidodson]

The absolute biggest benefit is that NYC has so many places it can pipe the water to, even though the reason for that is also a cause of flooding.

[@mech-E]

We've collectively spent centuries getting to where we are. It's going to take us a while to solve the problems that are solvable.

[@Singlesix6]

How long have the subway engineers known that water runs downhill?

[@sabotabby3372]

@@Singlesix6 unfortunately when the city was built they didn't account for sea levels to rise a foot and storm surges to rise like 10 ft in the next 200 years

[@15ritikakrishnan68]

New York and Mumbai are so similar

[@Bossianus]

Stand clear of the closing doors please !

[@tocsa120ls]

when the MTA did "Invert Project" back in the early 80s and they were very satisfied with it, problem is it was only done once, ever... 10y later were already leaks everywhere again

[@parrylengsavat]

Sealed door gates and water vacuum pumps on the base ground of the stairs. And pump water back up above the building like a water fountain ⛲️.😅

[@MP-vc4nu]

4:15 Flex Gate? Is that made out of Flex Tapes 😂

[@danielkosciuszko9788]

When are we going to build back better?

[@Stargate2077]

When one governor is unable to screw two states from the public transit needed in the decades to come.

[@Reaver-Altar]

@@Stargate2077 Imagine if the federal government made these people cooperate instead of worrying about whether Ukrainians can be gay.

[@elsombero1747]

I don't remember if this was Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 or Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox 360 versions) but I remember where there was a subway tunnel completely flooded. And the same thing happened in a certain region in Germany I think it was last year or even 2 years ago. I was driving the subway and the floor of the train was completely flooded. We had to keep our feet up till we got to a station where it was safe to leave the train and the underground station. It was such an terrible experience. And funny enough this month I was driving in a bus to pick up my car and a underground passage under a road above was flooded but the bus driver just drove into the flooded area and then it got stuck because the driver hydro locked the engine 😂 And each of those events reminded me of that call of duty mission 😅 I'm so glad that I don't use public transportation so often since I'm living in Spain, near a area which it's almost impossible to experience any flooding

[@griznatle]

Wait how much have they spent and not solved it?

[@Reaver-Altar]

They said 7.6 billion was spent. Even this video doesn't tell you the money went to the Subway system.

[@Jammilogy]

I hope the future Philippine Subway system will not be flooded like this. Keep it up NYC! ❤️‍🔥

[@ROBLOXGamingDavid]

I do remember the Metro Manila Subway (and last time i checked) its still under construction. Knowing the vulnerability of the strongest typhoons, storm surges and heavy rains, they really need extensive pumps and flood protections.

[@imchris5000]

you could give MTA an unlimited budget and they would still find a way to embezzle 99% of it

[@phantomcruizer]

So true!

[@phantomcruizer]

So true...and they get away with it every time!

[@flowmastak1]

I love civil engineering

It seems like it will be cheaper to just drone deliver individual people than to build a flood-proof subway.

[@batliff]

The problem is money, the solution is money.

[@Distress.]

Actually the problem is incompetent leadership, the solution is a competent voter base.

[@Yutani_Crayven]

@@Distress. Leadership allocates money. And lack of investment makes the cost of upgrades go through the roof because the relevant industry infrastructure and knowledge is no longer there, so it's not being mass produced.

[@W4iteFlame]

So the problem and the solution is entirely a concept that exists only in human brains?

[@almerindaromeira8352]

If they were smart they would've seen this coming when spending the original 7 billions after Sandy...

[@oatmealman1586]

​@@W4iteFlame money exists in other animal's brains as well. It turns out having a means to convert time and effort Into a tangible thing you can trade to other people for their time and effort is a very good means for social construction.

[@Cdr_Mansfield_Cumming]

I dont understand how you can say New York is unique. London has 26 rivers flowing through it and emptying into the Thames that turns into an estuary on the North Sea all built on a chalk bed. The river Thames had to have a flood barrier built on it because the storm surges throughout the winter months and regularly has storm surges combined with high spring tides combining together. London installed an entire flood system installed starting in the 1980’s and finished in the 1990’s.

[@Commentator541]

Imagine the money as a contractor with this never ending stupidity and corruption

[@davidrichie9570]

OK you spent the first three minutes of us saying “it was never built to handle this.”

[@leot2646]

7.6b spend half goes to few people pockets

[@johnjacobjinglehimerschmid3555]

I can't imagine the amount of above ground traffic if NYC didn't have a subterranean below ground transit system. But I also wonder how much fares should really be to actually pay for and maintain said systems without taxpayer money.

[@RussellLarrabee]

Go MTA you guys and ladies are to smart keep up the hard work

[@jerseydevil1]

Closing off exits to a flooding subway station just sounds like a death trap to me.raising the grates are a good idea but not raising others because it’s a high traffic area is kinda like the same as dealing exits. it automatically shuts the drain which will just focus the flooding in said high traffic area , another death trap 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@creativemindplay]

0:07 Metropolitan Transportation Authority. If there's been a name change, we weren't notified.

[@developerfabi]

Metro is short for Metropolitan, Transit is short for Transportation. Weird Choice of words, I agree, but not wrong.

[@InternetKilledTV21]

@@developerfabi Transit is part of a broader category of transportation. Transportation includes not only passengers but freight and materials. MTA does have freight-only lines like the Bay Ridge Branch owned by the Long Island Rail Road.

[@Max24871]

The MTA is a metro transit authority, is it not?

[@InternetKilledTV21]

@@Max24871 Metropolitan Transportation Authority

[@Max24871]

@@InternetKilledTV21 I'm not saying that MTA isn't short for those specific words, what I am saying is that it shouldn't be wrong to call the MTA a transit authority. The MTA is a kind of transit authority right?

[@dommoo2]

6:57 With all of these upgrades to make it so the subway system doesn't flood we can also install anti-homeless infrastructure so they can't keep warm in the winter

[@ThatOneMindTraveler]

Can we get a refund as a country?

[@L0Sinc]

How many time have we raised the statue of liberty? Because of the rising sea level?

[@fireaza]

Subway employee: **CLOSES FLOOD DOORS** Flood: **FIDDLES WITH THE DOOR HANDLE, OPENING IT** Subway employee: "Clever girl..."

[@MrHack4never]

We're gonna need a bigger pump

[@samuelcarpentier2044]

Funny to say you have the best engineers in the world, yet you keep one of the oldest metro systems. It's very loud, the energy consumption is enormous, and it's very dirty. It seems old and outdated compared to Europe. The USA should place public transportation at the heart of concerns in cities with this level of population

[@kenjiharima23nep91]

The problem is, when theres a thunder storm with heavy rain or a microburst. Yall never closed the entrance just to run the subway.

[@ColtanFree]

There's no way to evacuate an entire subway system during an hurricane or heavy rain downpour. The entire system will have to shutdown a day or two before the storm even hits.

[@briefcasefullofbacon7291]

I don't understand why they don't just set up a big drain from NYC to Death Valley. Death Valley has an elevation of -282.2 feet and NYC has an elevation of 33 feet (according to Google). They could build the drain and have gravity do all the work.

[@phantomcruizer]

Lake Mead instead of Death Valley.

[@ArtificialDjDAGX]

Death Valley is 3'748 kilometers away from NYC

[@river.]

Constructing elevated metro systems could be a cost-effective alternative to the massive expenditure on floodproofing.

[@Mr5083]

Crooks and thieves had a party with that seven billion dollars MTA management must have gotten lots of payoffs they all should be sent to prison all crooks

[@meerak915]

Anyone else notice the wheelchair standing in front of the steps at 6:46?

[@micaiah_smbdy]

Would it be feasible to take the ground water and purify it for commercial use?

[@thejatomis]

Not exactly. As you pull the groundwater, the ground begins to sink in a very similar manner that is causing New Orleans to sink, exacerbating the problem.

[@EndIessProductions]

The ground water In the subway tracks have rat poison lol

[@njdriving]

The city streets are flooding like you never seen before and it's not normal for something that deep underground to not get flooded?

[@Wowaniac]

none of that is going to work, it may be sufficent for a time but it wont last long. The Only way to fix the problem is to rezone and bring the Metro above ground. You built a city on the water what did you expect would happen? The only other option is to give the water a place to go even if you tunnel under the water table and build a reservoir

[@Enlightenuser-n6n]

7:59 This whole video is basically an advertisement for the government project. And guess what how much is the price of all this project.

[@EumlOriginal]

2:10 It's just stupid if the example has absolutely nothing to do with the subway and was built much later and, above all, was built for amounts of rainfall that don't even exist in New York ...

[@mrrolandlawrence]

i would have though that a dense network was a bonus. its super long tunnels that would be a problem - not short interconnected ones.

[@LukyMSant]

This all sounds like some overcomplicated engineering to do basic simple things, like just raising up the entrances and ventilation ducts so that they don't get as easily flooded. But doing that would be substantially cheaper and wouldn't require licensed contractors to do billion dollars work of wasteful gadgets that don't work.

[@tvviewer4500]

Sea levels have not risen a foot in battery park… it has sunk a foot. It’s all fill.

[@lyokofans]

Fascinating how the solution is always kicking the can down the road and using bandaids to get by. Obviously replacing or modernizing would be expensive but this is critical infrastructure that would cost even more if it goes down when it isn't planned.

[@cedric3973]

Easy explination, corruption. Its a huge problem in NY and they spend tens of billions on useless things. Maybe they should spend it on the actual city.

[@arxvphoto809]

Crazy and almost criminal how expensive it is to modernize the MTA. Someone’s taking home a fat check from all this work. China builds entire systems with what it cost the MTA to build a mile worth of subway.

[@naplesflexplorer]

Not to say US Govt doesn't excel at implementing the most expensive least expensive solutions , but China uses slave labor with no worker rights or benefits. Not sure that's the and efficiency and solution I would want? If anything all these places with a history of flooding may want to explore options that embraces the floods versus fighting them. Perhaps create Venice like cities. Although that would be better accommodated to rural areas.

[@danielk.english6004]

@@naplesflexplorer - in addition to the slave labor, ChiCom developers buy cheap materials and the results often show within a year or two. civilians call such projects "tofu-dreg" to illustrate the point. they're pretty good at the propaganda, though; a lot better than westerners.

[@organizerbmo]

Does anyone know the suit-jacket/blazer this guy is wearing? Is it just made of cotton/wool/linen, or what makes it different from traditional, more common suits? It seems so soft to the touch, and more matte texture, muted coloring which makes it come off way more casual & flexible. Thanks!

[@ItsMe-yg4yi]

what more dangerous for nyc rainstorms or the rising sealevel?

[@ewoggerts]

I bet some engineer was like what about heavy rains. And the MTA was like we don't have the budget for that (corruption).

[@cedriclynch]

You could take a tip from Indian newspapers about flooding. India does not have floods, although it may sometimes have a "flood-like situation".

[@ericresh3268]

The MTA loses $690 million a year in toll evading. If they would resolve this they wouldn't have to beg for more money and the people that use the system would actually pay for it.

[@MyANTHEMS]

Shouldn't the plan be to move the entire city? Perhaps starting soon? If my house flooded every year, and I knew it would worsen over the following years, moving would be considered. And yes, city's can be moved.

[@EndIessProductions]

Cities can move but the buildings won’t be able to move they would have to stay

[@EndIessProductions]

And if they moved the buildings that would take ages

[@ColtanFree]

One solution is to rebuild the elevated lines throughout the city again. You will have no problems at all with flooding.😁

[@thomaslesser9708]

So why wasn't there much flooding back in day 180s and earlier?

[@qtheplatypus]

Because we hadn’t overwhelmed nature with pollution back then.

[@claytonwoodcock6942]

Just hearing the "congestion tax" makes me so angry. The fact that CA is trying to implement it really makes me mad, I hope legislators realize New York removed it.

[@zzewt]

I'm sure whoever made the title image for this thought it was really clear, but all I see is "why this (arrow pointing to a bowling ball inside a tube) didn't stop this (a man dancing on stairs)'. It's completely nonsensical if you don't already know what it's supposed to mean. Don't forget to have somebody who doesn't already know what it's supposed to mean view your thumbnails, and don't show it to them in fullscreen (that's not how thumbnails work)--show it to them in the actual size it's seen. (I wouldn't thin the WSJ would need people to brosplain the basics of thumbnails, but this one was so comically bad it seems like you need some help)

[@goosecf]

New York is the king of stopgaps and delays.

[@darkwoodmovies]

Until you look at most of the rest of the country and realize it's actually not even that bad.

[@King.Mark.]

As someone that once lived on a water world ,you just need to drink more water and it will go away one day 👀

[@rengar322]

public transit is so much better for the environment, how much power is used just to run the pumps to keep the water out?

[@AH-cl7fh]

did those synagogue tunnels get flooded?

[@papertowelthe6th105]

4:45 Wait, WHAT? Instead of having the grate ABOVE the ground, they installed it at ground level? That's just against common sense... And then they install a whole system of seals to prevent water from getting inside. AND you have to close it manually?! Could you make it even worse?

[@phantomcruizer]

Yes, they'll increase the fare...😂

[@nikkivieler3761]

Why doesn't New York employ Dutch engineers to design measures to stop the flood..?

[@darkwoodmovies]

They didn't donate enough to someone's campaign.

[@RaymondHng]

4:39 Marilyn Monroe made these famous in _The Seven Year Itch_ .

[@nerdicorgi]

It might be worth asking JapanRail how they manage it because Tokyo, lest we forget, is absolutely full of water ways and yet despite Daimon, Kachidoki, and Monzen-nakacho stations all being on different land masses and well below the water tables -- the route is dry.

[@lubu4u312]

The problem with the government is that its very expensive and they fail consistently and often. You would think rain is new to this 110 year old system.

[@piggy8761]

If government sucks so much how can West Europe and East Asia have better transit systems than USA? NYC is the best transit this country can offer, and it pales in comparison to other developed countries. Why? Because its not about density, size, geographic or any other stupid fake reason as to why it can be done there and not here. Has zero to do with logistics and money because the US is the richest most powerful country ever. It has everything EVERYTHING to do with culture and mindset. Europeans and Asians dont mind being taxed by their government so that their governments can build reliable high speed rail and public bus transit systems that benefit ALL of society. They look at SOCIETAL benefit. Here in this country, its all about profits. Cars are profitable, passenger trains arent. So no money gets spent. All while NIMBYism keeps the government from actually trying tk do it paying contractors etc, litigation increases the cost which increases the taxes. All pissing everyone off. Americans dont see the benefit of something that takes time and patience. But how did thr interstate highway system get built even thought it took decades and billions? Because these are what you call public goods. Everyone pays so everyone can use. Auto industry snd the car lobby. No go back to bitching about your taxes and whining about how ineffective govt is despite paying for the roads you use every day. 😂

[@lubu4u312]

@@piggy8761 im not reading that but good for you or sorry that happened.

[@ItsMe-yg4yi]

The letters on the entrance, is this helvetica?

[@mathismuller6033]

I think its a lost cause. Yes, they can redesign the entrances of the system, but that will not change the fact, that it is way to close to the sea. Building something below the water table is asking for trouble, especially if you then have a hard time getting rid of that water. The system is way to old to be fixed that easily. By the looks of it the tunnels are made of old, very rusty steel and it appears that as soon as the entrances are fixed, other way bigger problems will arise. Here in Berlin we also have a subway and its actually two years older then the NYC one. It is faaaar from great, but it seemingly is well maintained and I have never seen any flooding issues (not to say there aren`t any, but they are nowhere near as bad as in NYC). It appears NYC is on borrowed time. A 21st century city running on 19th century hardware and issues of overpopulation. The rent prices are insane and the building regulations are apparently few and far between. Here in Germany/Berlin things aren`t brilliant either, but there are loads of regulations if it comes to buildings and so a facade just coming off of the house or buildings collapsing spontaneously is nothing that happens here. There was a time in my life, especially after watching Casey Neistat`s vlogs, where I really wanted to live there, but learning more and more about NYC I think I`ll stay in Germany for now.

[@kamdaddypurp69]

Wow really something underground is flooding who would’ve thought

[@jermainec2462]

bottom line is nyc is over built over crowded too much going on and by this being america means they wait to the last min to fix anything and complain about the cost

[@justin2370]

we not gonna talk about their dumping of the sewage into the harbour? 1:32

[@wompstopm123]

man who could have imagined that an underground network of tunnels would have a drainage problem...

[@diegoaespitia]

do people not realize NYC mostly sits on islands? no matter how much money u throw at the issue. there will always be water floods

[@Jwellsuhhuh]

99% of MTA engineers quit just $1B before fixing flooding forever

[@flithbrin]

Maybe they can get more funding for keeping the subway dry if they stop funding putting spikes under overpasses, bars on benches, etc to stop homeless people from having a place to sleep.

[@ZENITH_System_3]

6:54 gotta love those painful grates so no homeless people can keep warm in the winter

[@mrheadcrab1233]

I’ll be honest, there’s so much wrong with the New York City subway station I’m surprised they just don’t just allow it to slide and turn it into a secondary sewer system.

[@ddegn]

*The proof of the pudding is in the eating.* Not "proof is in the pudding." As I recently learned, the difference is very important to many people.

[@VIP-vl5bl]

A 2.2 Trillion dollar state should build a highway undersea..it is cheaper to build a whole new MTA network than keeping buring cash fixing the unfixable

[@pivkaaa]

That is stupendous money for little effect in my opinion:)

[@vincentgrinn2665]

6:55 gotta love those anti homeless stormwater proofed drains on the right new yorks civil engineers are truely world class at being a cruel

[@blublim3896]

Even better solution. Elevate the entrance platform

[@LexTheCat]

The Netherlands lliterally has cities under the SEA LEVEL, and NY cannot keep some tunnels dry?