Climate experts discuss what NYC has learned and what improvements have been made since Superstorm Sandy

NEW YORK — An important conversation was held Monday about lessons learned from Sandy just days ahead of the storm’s 10th anniversary.

CBS2’s Vanessa Murdock spoke with Rohit T. Aggarwala, the city’s chief climate officer, about what New Yorkers need to do now to weather the next superstorm.

“New York is significantly better off now in terms of the risk of coastal inundation than it was a decade ago,” Aggarwala said.

The insight was provided at Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Station during a panel discussion hosted by the Association for a Better New York or ABNY.

“Today’s conversation is to really think about what happened 10 years, sort of where we are now and how do we plan for the future,” ABNY’s Melva Miller said.

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On the panel was Aggarwala and Diahann Billings-Burford, who served as the city’s chief service officer when Sandy hit.

Murdock took the opportunity to speak with both of them.

Billings-Burford shared that setting up more than a dozen distribution sites where New Yorkers could come to get essentials made her understand fully.

“Nothing is more important than relationships, between the government and the community. That is how we got things done effectively, quickly, and in a way that actually addressed the needs in front of us,’ Billings-Burford said.

“What do you think is the single most important lesson learned from Sandy by the city?” Murdock asked Aggarwala.

“Sandy demonstrated to us that the climate is changing here and now. It’s already coming after us. The time to act is now,” he said.

Aggarwala says over the past 10 years a lot has happened, work most New Yorkers may not see up close.

“Nearly 1,000 homes around the city have been elevated. We’ve had a couple hundred homes that have been bought out and removed,” Aggarwala said.

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NYCHA housing has been shored up, too.

“Work has gone in to protect the equipment that failed during Sandy because of flooding,” Aggarwala said.

“What does the city need to focus its efforts on now?” Murdock asked.

“We have to think about the rest of the city. The federal funding we got after Sandy was only for those neighborhoods that happened to be hardest hit,” Aggarwala said.

“Combatting inequities, and how to prepare for that and how do we take care of one another in times of need,” Billings-Burford said.

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And, she said there needs to be more education about resilience.

“What it means. What’s the importance of it. How does it impact our everyday lives,” Billings-Burford said.

“I think New Yorkers need to start understanding that the weather in New York could kill us and the city is not going to protect us against everything,” Aggarwala added.

He is urging everyone to know their zone, buy flood insurance, and to take weather seriously.

Aggarwala added New Yorkers should expect to see more construction happening along our coastlines. As big projects take time, the visible work is about to begin on several post-Sandy coastal defense initiatives.