For the small city of Kingston, NY, snug along the banks of the Hudson River 90 miles north of New York City, Superstorm Sandy, which tore up the East Coast in 2012, was a wake-up call.
It was residentsâ first real taste of how climate-related upstream flooding imperiled the character and geography of their historic city, settled by Dutch immigrants in 1652 and at one time the stateâs first capital.
Flooding from Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 devastated parts of Kingston, NY, located along the Hudson River. (City of Kingston, NY)
Kingston Mayor Steven T. Noble has both a degree in environmental science and a front-row seat to the growing threats that worsening storms and sea level rise pose for his hometown.