The city of Hoboken, New Jersey, once a marshy outcropping that the Lenape inhabited only seasonally, hugs the Hudson River. Three-quarters of it occupies a flood plain. It is, in other words, a water magnet. Some scientists have forecast that, with rising seas, a big chunk of Hoboken will be Atlantis by 2100. But for more than a decade, this city of some 60,000 residents has been trying to thwart fate — and it is making progress. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy left Hoboken underwater and without elec
Environmentalists say an Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to protect the city from coastal storms using walls and gates fails to address other climate change-related threats, like heavy rainfall.
occurred. homes have been water logged, possessions have been lost. residents emotional over what they couldn t save, even as prepared as they were. people in and out of these communities by boat over the weekend, some that i ve spoken with who said, look, we know what we can expect here when this river floods, but even so this has been hard for us to watch. this came on us. it really just kind of creeped up on us little by little, and before you know it our homes were under water. so that has been sort of the tale, and i ve asked a number of people, well, if you know it floods, why not move from your neighborhood, and they say, well, this is our home. we choose to live here because ordinarily it s beautiful out here. when events like this happen we rely on those flood gauges, we rely on the flood walls. we rely on everything that has been working up to this point to prevent total catastrophe. those walls and those mitigation factors have really done their job here, jose, but neverthel
as communities in iowa grapple with major flooding, decimating entire homes and businesses. joining us now with more is nbc ease george solis who is in battendorf, iowa, just outside of davenport. what are you seeing today? reporter: imagine this scenario, people waking up this monday to have to commute to work, take their kids to school by boat. that is the reality for a lot of people here as this river is expected to crest today in some areas as much as 21 feet. here in this area about 16, 17 feet. the images here really telling the tale. take a look behind me. you can see this neighborhood, the mailboxes almost submerged under water. the people here in these communities who are used to this have this down to a science, right? you can see some of the flood walls that they have built, very intricate to make sure that water does not get into their garages, floods their basements. still, though, in some areas where this river has crested and is cresting, the inevitable has
presumably the worst will soon be over. we know the flood walls and the locks have done their part, at least from what we ve been hearing. that is the good news in all of this. the damage already done as you have alluded to. tractors, basements flooded out here in these communities. hundreds and hundreds of people impacted many of them, again, just waiting for this water to recede so they can really start to assess and start the cleanup process. emotions here have really run the gamut from people who say this is what they expected with the river, of course, flooding. other saying yes, we know, this is going to be bad. it was really worse than we could ve expected. take a listen to what some of the residents have been telling me. our homes are safe. we are well equipped to withstand the high waters. we do have to lift everything off the ground. everything in new york are, the main level garage, it does have to be lifted up on to high shoving or up onto your deck,