Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Sparks

I Hope This Soggy Postcard From New York City Finds You Well

On floating cars, subway slip-‘n-slides, and a whirlpool in Brooklyn

Person holding umbrella in very large puddle.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

It’s raining in New York City, which means two things: You’ve for some reason heard about it even if you live nowhere near the Tri-State area, and also nothing is working.

As a metropolis that runs on the fumes of pure defiance and chaos magic even during the best of times, New York was understandably struggling to stay afloat after a month’s worth of rain fell within a few hours on Friday morning. Subway staircases transformed into white-water obstacles more befitting of Action Park than America’s most populous city, while trash cans embarked from their curbside moorings, destined for unknown shores. Cars — half-submerged and looking curiously hippopotamine — nosed their way through the city’s new waterways. The Central Park sea lion exhibit overflowed with, well, sea lions. A manhole outside Joe’s Pizza in the East Village caught fire, the result of short-circuiting electrical cables. In Brooklyn, inexplicably, a whirlpool appeared.


With Friday already the eighth wettest day in Central Park’s 154 years of recorded history, preliminarily the wettest day ever at JFK Airport (with 7.88” inches since midnight), and inches more rain still to come, Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency and drew comparisons to Hurricane Ida, which killed 11 people in basement apartments in Queens in 2021. (At least six people had been rescued by the FDNY from basements by Friday afternoon, The Washington Post reported; so far, no deaths have been recorded). Mayor Eric Adams, who’d spent the evening before the storm celebrating his Sept. 1st birthday with a fundraiser, “defended his failure to address the public about the storm until almost noon today,” The New York Times reported.

Warning or no, the city that prides itself on not slowing down even to sleep squelched to a soggy standstill ahead of the evening commute. Trains were out of service, or running with severe limitations. Kids were marooned at school. Terminal A at LaGuardia Airport remained closed, with more than 3,000 flights delayed due to the storm.

And yet — undeterred by the reminder that we live in a city made up of islands waiting to be reclaimed by the sea or that all this is one more chilling sign that our warming atmosphere can hold more water — some plans, in that New Yorker way, stubbornly held. Around 2:30 p.m., the New York Film Festival cheerfully shared that it had released more tickets for its opening night film.

The show must go on! You just have to wade there.


Get one great climate story in your inbox every day:

* indicates required
  • Blue

    You’re out of free articles.

    Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
    To continue reading
    Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
    or
    Please enter an email address
    By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
    Sparks

    Rhizome Raises $6.5 Million for AI Grid Resilience

    The company will use the seed funding to bring on more engineers — and customers.

    Power lines.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    As extreme weather becomes the norm, utilities are scrambling to improve the grid’s resilience, aiming to prevent the types of outages and infrastructure damage that often magnify the impact of already disastrous weather events. Those events cost the U.S. $182 billion in damages last year alone.

    With the intensity of storms, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires growing every year, some utilities are now turning to artificial intelligence in their quest to adapt to new climate realities. Rhizome, which just announced a $6.5 million seed round, uses AI to help assess and prevent climate change-induced grid infrastructure vulnerabilities. It’s already working with utilities such as Avangrid, Seattle City Light, and Vermont Electric Power Company to do so.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Blue
    Sparks

    Don’t Look Now, But China Is Importing Less Coal

    Add it to the evidence that China’s greenhouse gas emissions may be peaking, if they haven’t already.

    A Chinese coal worker.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    Exactly where China is in its energy transition remains somewhat fuzzy. Has the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases already hit peak emissions? Will it in 2025? That remains to be seen. But its import data for this year suggests an economy that’s in a rapid transition.

    According to government trade data, in the first fourth months of this year, China imported $12.1 billion of coal, $100.4 billion of crude oil, and $18 billion of natural gas. In terms of value, that’s a 27% year over year decline in coal, a 8.5% decline in oil, and a 15.7% decline in natural gas. In terms of volume, it was a 5.3% decline, a slight 0.5% increase, and a 9.2% decline, respectively.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Blue
    Sparks

    Rewiring America Slashes Staff Due to Trump Funding Freeze

    The nonprofit laid off 36 employees, or 28% of its headcount.

    Surprised outlets.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    The Trump administration’s funding freeze has hit the leading electrification nonprofit Rewiring America, which announced Thursday that it will be cutting its workforce by 28%, or 36 employees. In a letter to the team, the organization’s cofounder and CEO Ari Matusiak placed the blame squarely on the Trump administration’s attempts to claw back billions in funding allocated through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

    “The volatility we face is not something we created: it is being directed at us,” Matusiak wrote in his public letter to employees. Along with a group of four other housing, climate, and community organizations, collectively known as Power Forward Communities, Rewiring America was the recipient of a $2 billion GGRF grant last April to help decarbonize American homes.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Yellow