Designing the New York Hurricane

Funny how having an unexpected tornado literally in your back yard can make you sensitive to how even a hurricane could happen here. Making Light, based in Brooklyn, has picked up Bruce Sterling's find of an NYC Post-Disaster Competition and run with it. The competition pages themselves are a wealth of information, for example storm paths and damage estimates for the hurricanes of 1893, 1938 (Long Island Express), 1954 (Carol), 1960 (Donna), 1985 (Gloria), 1991 (Bob), and 1999 (Tropical Storm Floyd). Funny how when you start paying attention, it only could happen here, it has, repeatedly, and could again much worse. Making Light extends on that with numerous bits of information and comments from interested parties, perhaps because

Cripes, I almost feel like I live there.

— What if New York City gets socked by a category-3 hurricane? by Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Making Light, 12 October 2007

Echoes of New Orleans are not hard to find:

On the other hand, it takes something on the order of dynamite to get us out of spaces where we've resided a long time. My guess is that a lot of people who should leave won't, but they'll be very helpful and cooperative about it.

Maybe we all do live there.

-jsq