In western Washington we get a pretty nasty storm every couple or few years. Last winters ice storm was so bad, it cost my golf club 50k to clean up the debris.. Took 6 weeks but now you would never notice.
Storms happen. This storm in the east only appears to be a surge issue for the most part. Well, you better expect that if you are on the ocean? Or is that too callous?
No no no.....NOT callous in the slightest. In fact, I was JUST talking about this with my girlfriend. If you are in NYC, practically ON the Atlantic coast, and so much of your infrastructure (transportation, utilities, etc.) are underground, wouldn't it behoove you to ensure that such resources are protected from flooding? Heavy storm doors going down into recesses to keep water out (subway stations, etc.)??
Guess not. Guess they figured that "no, that stuff happens to the South....not us, at least not often enough to design for it".
Stupid stupid stupid.