Case Studies
Preparing for “the Next Sandy”: Lessons Learned from Superstorm Sandy’s Impact on New York Public Housing and the Red Hook Community
Superstorm Sandy caused a cascade of harmful impacts on the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook. This case study recalls the effects of the storm on Red Hook’s public housing residents, describes community response measures, and highlights adaptation efforts in the years since.
Superstorm Sandy: Once in a Lifetime?
At 7:30 p.m. on October 29, 2012, the National Hurricane Center reported that Superstorm Sandy made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey, as a post-tropical cyclone.1 Over the course of 48 hours, it devastated the New York City area, with the federal government issuing a disaster declaration for New York State on October 30.2 The storm was unlike any the city had seen before: communities across the region experienced power outages, limited access to necessities such as food and medical care, and damage to critical infrastructure at an unprecedented scale.1 The Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook was among the hardest-hit communities. A large percentage of Red Hook residents live in public housing, and many were living with multiple social and environmental risks—due to factors such as income status, race or ethnicity, age, and health status—that compounded the storm’s profound impact.
Climate change is leading to more frequent and/or intense storms, weather events, and other hazards, with communities across New York State at risk.4 In the Jamaica Bay area of New York City, for instance, researchers have projected that the “once in a lifetime” flooding seen during Superstorm Sandy could become a regular occurrence by the end of the 21st century.5 Prioritizing ongoing adaptation and engaging communities can help decision-makers invest in effective, equitable climate action for all. This case study highlights the multi-sector effects of Superstorm Sandy on Red Hook and demonstrates the importance of ongoing resilience efforts as climate change leads to more frequent and intense extreme events.
The Red Hook Community
The neighborhood of Red Hook lies on a peninsula, isolated from the remainder of Brooklyn by the Gowanus (Brooklyn–Queens) Expressway, Gowanus Canal, and Brooklyn Battery Tunnel approach.3,6 The neighborhood is often considered a “transportation desert”—without a subway station and with limited bus lines, Red Hook residents have fewer public transit options than residents of many of the surrounding areas.7 Red Hook is also located in a floodplain, with more than 1000 buildings at risk of flood damage.8
Highlights
- Extreme weather events, like Superstorm Sandy, and other climate hazards have direct and cascading impacts that can cause lasting harm to communities.
- Pre-existing social vulnerabilities can compound climate impacts and intensify risks.
- A community’s ability to adapt varies, and changes in major infrastructure require funding and support—but adaptation can help avoid costly overhauls in the wake of disaster. Adaptation efforts that look toward building resilience before the next storm, rather than solely recovering from the last one, benefit communities and can reduce future destruction.
- Communities understand their own values, strengths, and needs. Decision-makers can more effectively serve communities by engaging community members and organizations in decision-making around climate change and including community knowledge in disaster response or preparedness plans.
While the neighborhood as a whole is changing and currently includes some of the most expensive places to live in Brooklyn, it is also home to a large public housing complex, with more than half of Red Hook residents living in public housing.9,10 Red Hook’s New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) campus, the Red Hook Houses, has 2878 apartments and is the second-largest public housing complex in New York State.3 Many of Red Hook’s public housing residents are at a higher risk of harm from climate change impacts due to existing social, economic, and health inequities. At the time of Superstorm Sandy, 85% of Red Hook Houses residents were Black or Latino,3 populations that have been historically marginalized due to race or ethnicity, and the Red Hook neighborhood had a 45% poverty rate along with high levels of asthma, diabetes, and other health disparities.3
Red Hook is also home to a strong network of community advocates.11 For instance, local community-based organizations include the Red Hook Initiative (RHI) and other nonprofit arts, sports, and education programs.12
A Cascade of Impacts
As Superstorm Sandy made landfall near New York, it brought strong winds that extended into the New York City area and a catastrophic storm surge, battering the city’s coastlines.13 In Red Hook, the impacts were particularly severe.14 Many of the Red Hook Houses’ electrical systems and boilers were located in low areas, such as basements or crawlspaces, that exposed them to damage from floodwater. To prevent safety threats such as electrical fires, NYCHA began shutting down these systems ahead of the storm.3 After the storm event, without backup generators on the property, residents had no power for up to three weeks—lights were out, electrical equipment and appliances did not work, the cold set in, and food began to spoil without refrigeration.3 Flood damage to telecommunications facilities, equipment, and cables also led to phone, wireless, and internet service outages lasting more than a week.1
Without electricity, mechanical infrastructure, including elevators, became unusable. Darkness in homes, hallways, stairwells, and streets created safety concerns, making it difficult for residents to move about the complex. Buildings lacked heat for 17 days, during which time a snowstorm hit on November 7, just over a week after Sandy.3,15 Failure of domestic water pumps—crucial in the six-story buildings—left residents without running water or proper sanitation for more than 11 days, giving them little choice but to leave their homes or rely on the help of others to get safe drinking water and flush toilets.3
Destruction in the neighborhood at large created further problems. Floodwaters left Red Hook’s streets inaccessible, damaged vehicles, and washed debris, oil, and other contaminants onto the roads, compromising one of the few transportation options.16 Schools, businesses, and community centers closed. Sweet potatoes recently harvested from the neighborhood’s nearby urban farm, Added Value Farm (now Red Hook Farms), were destroyed; salty, contaminated floodwater ruined the remaining crops.17,18 Impacts to transportation, businesses, and other community spaces caused further cascading risks for residents. For example, flooded roads and closed businesses meant many residents had little to no access to health care offices, pharmacies, and grocery stores.3,19
Even after the lights came back on, challenges persisted. At the Red Hook Houses, moisture from the storm surge created lasting issues in homes. Residents reported recurring electricity outages, ceiling damage, and mold.20 Local businesses, many without flood insurance, struggled to financially recover from the destruction.14 Some businesses and community centers in the neighborhood stayed closed for months or longer.21
Compounding Factors for Public Housing Residents
No two communities experience an extreme event exactly the same way. Existing inequities and social stressors cause certain people to be more exposed to hazards, more at risk of impacts, or less able to respond and recover. In Red Hook, prolonged funding challenges for public housing22 also meant buildings had been in need of upgrades before Superstorm Sandy and therefore were already vulnerable to damage and safety threats.
The area of Red Hook containing public housing is considered a “food desert,” with less access to fresh, healthy, affordable produce.23 This not only makes the effects of supply chain issues, food spoilage, and crop loss from the local urban farm more profound, but can also lead to further health disparities, including higher rates of diabetes.24 Chronic health conditions put people at an increased risk of harm from climate change impacts: disruptions to vital medical care or medications can endanger lives, health conditions can make it difficult to evacuate, and exposure to post-storm issues—such as mold—can worsen asthma and other chronic conditions.25,26 Additionally, with fewer resources to prepare for, recover from, and adapt to extreme events, low-income households experience higher risks.
Existing inequities can also create hesitancy around evacuation or difficulty evacuating altogether. In the case of Sandy, though an evacuation order was posted on all building floors—including instructions and transportation to shelters3—many Red Hook residents sheltered in place due to health and mobility concerns, fear, communication barriers, and uncertainty.27 For instance, some residents were concerned they would not be able to return to their homes after evacuating.28 Understanding this fear, often prominent in those with fewer resources to respond to a major change, can help decision-makers communicate about evacuation. In addition, the lesser impact of Hurricane Irene the year before may have provided residents with a false sense of security.3
Mobilizing Red Hook: The Local Community’s Role in Disaster Response
RHI, a community-based nonprofit whose members include residents of the Red Hook Houses,28 led community response efforts in Superstorm Sandy’s wake to assist Red Hook residents. In the days and weeks after the storm, they canvassed and used social media to communicate with residents, mobilize volunteers, obtain supplies, spread information, dispel myths, and raise awareness of the crisis at Red Hook.15 For three weeks, the organization served and delivered two meals each day for up to 1000 people and distributed necessities such as candles, blankets, heaters, and emergency medical supplies. In coordination with local organized relief effort Occupy Sandy29 and volunteer medical professionals, they hosted an urgent care clinic and crisis counseling.15 The Red Hook WiFi network, a mesh WiFi network the organization initially developed and installed itself with support from Open Technology Institute, provided a crucial, free means of communications when the rest of Red Hook’s network was down.30–32 The RHI headquarters—operable and spared the worst of the storm’s damage—became a hub for a range of needs, from warmth to cellphone charging to assistance with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) applications.15 RHI knew their community and deeply understood its needs in the aftermath of the storm.
Following its immediate response, RHI and the broader Red Hook community took further actions to empower long-term recovery and advocacy. They sought to fill needs such as developing a neighborhood-wide emergency preparedness plan, working with the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery to prepare a community reconstruction and resilience plan, identifying and training local leaders, collaborating with organizing groups to help residents advocate for long-term repairs at the Red Hook Houses, strengthening social networks and personal resilience, and advancing green spaces.15,33,34
Adaptation: Progress, Challenges, and Preparing for “the Next Sandy”
Red Hook’s local organizations continue to carry out their resilience efforts. RHI has bolstered programs for community building, youth development, and crisis response.9 A coalition of local organizations developed the Ready Red Hook program, a comprehensive community readiness plan for responding to a range of events from power outages to storms.35 Red Hook community members also founded the Resilience, Education, Training, and Innovation (RETI) Center to build community resilience, and the center has since completed numerous conservation, restoration, and resilience projects.36
Partnerships between community-based organizations and the government provided another avenue for adaptation after Sandy. In 2013, NYCHA partnered with Red Hook Farms, the Mayor’s office, and Green City Force to open a new urban farm at the Red Hook Houses West—the first-ever large-scale community farm site on a NYCHA property.37 Expanding urban agriculture can help improve resilience through food accessibility, green spaces, and social fabric.38 In 2014, the New York City Economic Development Corporation launched its RISE: NYC program,39 which, with a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, ran a competition for proposals to build resilient energy and communications systems. RHI was among the winners for its autonomous community-based WiFi network.31
Shortly after Superstorm Sandy, NYCHA announced a comprehensive recovery and resilience plan for its affected properties—funded in part by a major FEMA award—to create safer conditions for residents during future storms.40 At the Red Hook Houses, NYCHA’s plan contained improvements to energy systems, buildings, safety features, and other developments on the campus. Resilience projects under this plan included floodproofing; installing new boilers above flood level; constructing new annex buildings to elevate mechanical, electrical, and plumbing equipment above FEMA flood levels; conducting repairs and restorations to strengthen building resilience; and installing backup power generators.41 In its 2013 Hurricane Sandy After Action report, NYCHA outlined key insights from Sandy, recovery efforts, and recommendations for lasting safety and resilience.42
Though temporary boilers and generators were installed at the campus in the weeks following the storm, the FEMA funding for the larger recovery and resilience project was awarded in December 2015,43 and work at Red Hook began on September 5, 2017, with a full roof replacement.44,45 In 2022, NYCHA cited 18 of its developments across New York City as having completed storm surge protection installation.46 A variety of updates at Red Hook were also listed as active or in progress in the fall of 2022 by the Red Hook Hub, a public communication system RHI developed to connect and inform residents.47 These ongoing updates included flood protection measures, interior framing and waterproofing, construction of “utility pods” to rehouse electrical equipment, and basement floodproofing.43,48
NYCHA has stated that ongoing adaptation efforts are to continue in the years after Superstorm Sandy to foster long-term resilience. In 2021, NYCHA released its Climate Change at NYCHA adaptation plan, which detailed strategies for “ensuring future climate hazards are incorporated into NYCHA’s operations, capital planning, and long-term planning.”49 The plan built upon and used lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts. At Red Hook, for instance, the plan described continued efforts to protect the campus from flooding, such as a “lily pad” design that raises the elevation of large parts of the site’s outdoor landscape. The report emphasized the additional resilience benefits these changes can have for the Red Hook community, such as improved community spaces and site accessibility. It also laid out plans to protect storm surge-exposed buildings across NYCHA’s campuses that were not eligible for post-Sandy funding.50 In its additional 2021 Flood Resilience at NYCHA report, NYCHA described these flood protection goals specifically and outlined the benefits and challenges associated with adaptation strategies. It also emphasized community engagement throughout the adaptation process—from start to finish—with dedicated outreach staff.43
One challenge to adaptation at the Red Hook Houses is the sheer scope of the work. The post-Sandy recovery and resilience project was larger, costlier, and more complex than previous renovation projects. Due to the large scope of site and infrastructure overhauls, even as progress is made, work continues in the decade after the storm.48,51
Crucially, the allocation and timing of funding also affect how and when adaptation efforts are implemented. As a public housing complex, the Red Hook Houses largely rely on federal and state funding for improvements. FEMA is a key funding partner in the wake of extreme weather events, but there are some criteria that must be met to qualify for certain funds. After Superstorm Sandy, only buildings that were directly affected by the storm were eligible for disaster recovery funding.49 This meant NYCHA had to seek other means of funding to prepare non-qualifying buildings for future storms. Ultimately, capital projects cannot be started until the necessary funding, scoping, and approvals are secure and the risks and benefits are quantified—often a time-consuming process. Given that the Red Hook recovery project was NYCHA’s largest, it was no exception. In 2019, some residents reported the Red Hook Houses still had temporary boilers, as well as struggles with mold, leaks, and damage from the storm.20,52 While more affluent nearby areas were more quickly restored—some with new resilience measures underway—working-class, lower-income neighborhoods and public housing developments have spent years working to recover and adapt, limiting their preparedness should a major storm strike again before completion.53
Another adaptation challenge is that large-scale updates can be disruptive for residents and bring major changes to the landscape of their home.49 At Red Hook, some adaptation solutions, such as floodproofing and updating central heating systems, had to be planned at the scale of the entire site, not just for individual buildings.43 The process of making these changes can have noticeable impacts for the community, and capital improvements take time. For example, flood protection measures at Red Hook required the removal of large numbers of trees.54 While NYCHA has outlined plans to replace the trees and build resilience with flood-tolerant tree species, it acknowledged the impact of such a change.54 Even in the case of improvements to individual buildings, retrofits to older buildings often have additional construction considerations to ensure improvements are safe and compatible.43 Adaptation strategies thus require careful planning and extensive maintenance, staff, and training. To this end, NYCHA has dedicated permanent staff to oversee the maintenance of new flood protection systems.49
Still another challenge in the greater Red Hook area is that transportation options remain limited. The introduction of a ferry and a bikeshare program with discounted rates for NYCHA residents have offered some new opportunities, but the ferry schedule is limited and not all residents are able to bike.7,55 Improved transportation networks can support Red Hook’s and other communities’ long-term economic well-being, mobility, and overall resilience.
Statewide Implications and Moving Forward
Superstorm Sandy has often been called “unprecedented.” Though it had dropped below hurricane status and was categorized as a “post-tropical cyclone” when it reached New York, conditions—such as the storm’s landfall and a higher-than-normal spring tide—led to an unexpected level of devastation.1 Far more intense than what the region was prepared for, the storm had characteristics never before recorded in the northeast U.S. region of the Atlantic.56
However, Superstorm Sandy is not a “once-in-a-lifetime” event. As storms become a greater threat and sea level rise exacerbates storm surge, flooding, and erosion, coastal regions face further risks.4 Communities across New York State will also continue to experience climate hazards. In the Great Lakes and in river valleys, for example, increased precipitation can cause severe inland flooding; more frequent and intense heat waves statewide threaten health, agriculture, energy, transportation infrastructure, and more.4,57 No climate hazards occur in a vacuum—any impact can have both direct and cascading impacts on New York State’s communities, ecosystems, and industries. Continual resilience improvements can benefit both communities and decision-making entities, as they can be less costly, invasive, and time-consuming than an overhaul necessitated by a hazard for which the infrastructure was not prepared.
Communities with fewer resources already struggle to recover from, prepare for, and adapt to climate change impacts. With resources being crucial to resilience, considering inequities can help decision-makers allocate adequate resources to support adaptation measures and prepare for the next hazard—not just recover from the last one. As communities and decision-makers strive for adaptation and resilience, meaningfully engaging communities in decision-making can help agencies and organizations fill gaps and better understand constituents’ needs. This engagement can include understanding local community knowledge and the support processes that community-based organizations already have in place, which can help decision-makers serve a community more effectively.28 Establishing relationships is key: by fostering an accessible, approachable environment for community outreach, decision-makers can engage with those they serve. Taking these steps before an extreme weather event—rather than in its wake—can improve disaster response efforts, strengthen communities, and support ongoing adaptation.
References
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27. The Alliance for a Just Rebuilding, Community Development Project at the Urban Justice Center, Community Voices Heard, Faith in New York, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, Good Old Lower East Side, Red Hook Initiative, & New York Communities for Change. (2014). Weathering the storm: Rebuilding a more resilient New York City Housing Authority post-Sandy. https://www.issuelab.org/resources/17494/17494.pdf
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31. Berwick, C. (2016, October 3). Yesterday’s internet isn’t good enough for tomorrow’s cities. Next City. https://nextcity.org/features/internet-connection-mesh-networks-resilience
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49. New York City Housing Authority. (2021). Climate change at NYCHA. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nycha/downloads/pdf/Climate-Change-at-NYCHA_lores_single-pages.pdf
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51. New York City Housing Authority. (n.d.). NYCHA recovery & resilience. Retrieved January 16, 2024, from https://www.nyc.gov/site/nycha/about/recovery-resiliency.page
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53. Glickman, W. (2020, June 13). New York’s rising tides: Climate inequality and Sandy’s legacy. The New York Review. https://www.nybooks.com/online/2020/06/13/new-yorks-rising-tides-climate-inequality-and-sandys-legacy/?lp_txn_id=1411607
54. New York City Housing Authority. (2021). Urban forest: A vital resource for New York City. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nycha/downloads/pdf/NYCHA_Urban_Forest.pdf
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