As the Rain Falls, So Does the City: New York's Sinking Problem Is Closer Than You Think

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Heavy Rain And Flooding

With heavy rainstorms forecast across New York City this week, most residents are bracing for flooded streets, delayed commutes, and subway shutdowns. But the real story isn’t just the water falling from the sky—it’s the ground beneath us, slowly sinking, reshaping the city in ways we’re only beginning to understand.

According to a 2023 NASA-led study that used space-based radar, New York City isn’t stable. It’s shifting—subtly but consistently. Parts of the city are sinking at rates of 1 to 2 millimeters per year, while a few rare spots are rising. This isn’t science fiction—it’s happening under our feet.

These micro-changes in elevation might sound negligible. But in a city already grappling with sea level rise, they matter. A sinking neighborhood plus rising tides equals an elevated flood risk—especially when major storms roll through, as they’re expected to this week.

What Are The Causes?

The causes are layered, literally. Some of it is ancient: the land still settling from glaciers that retreated thousands of years ago. But much of the shifting is man-made. Landfills, reclaimed marshes, and centuries of construction on unstable soil have left parts of the city more vulnerable to subsidence.

Think of areas like LaGuardia Airport or neighborhoods built on top of former wetlands—these places are more susceptible to compression as the ground sinks under the weight of development. Additionally, as heavy aircraft taxi, take off, and touch down on the pavement, these actions impact and compress the ground making airports that are already situated close to water, at risk of flooding. Now, not only will that impact the situation on the ground, it will impact air traffic control, cause delays, and create backups that could compound due to poor water management strategy.

Planning For The Future

Planning for the future requires implementing both short term and long term solutions that are able to account for unpredictability. The environmental changes won’t be rapid, but being able to invest in long term solutions will help vulnerable areas prepare against disasters that could snowball out of control.

And here’s the twist: these changes in elevation aren't uniform. A few parts of the metro area, thanks to geological quirks, are actually rising. But that uneven motion adds another layer of complexity to stormwater management and long-term urban planning. Where the water pools, where it drains, where it stays—these are the quiet calculations shaping the future of the city.

The Empire City Wire isn’t just sounding the alarm; we’re reframing the narrative. While traditional outlets chase down storm damage headlines, we’re looking deeper—literally—at how human ambition, historical oversight, and climate realities are colliding beneath the pavement. Some areas of the city have improper drainage because they were originally or intentionally planned that way, so being able to call out those mistakes and correct them is also important.

New York isn’t just weathering storms. It’s slowly, imperceptibly, changing shape. And anyone paying attention knows: in a city this ambitious, even a few millimeters can shift the balance.