LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Long Island City is among New York City’s most at-risk flood zones, but that hasn’t stopped developers from building thousands of apartments where the dangerous waters are most likely to hit, a new study found.
The Queens neighborhood has seen nearly 2,000 new residential units go up in its flood zones – more than any other area in New York City – since Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, according to the study released Monday by real estate site Localize.city.
The hurricane’s extensive damage hasn’t hindered booming real estate in areas along the Queens and Brooklyn coastline where federal data shows dangerous floods are most likely to strike.
Despite being labeled a Level 1 Evacuation Zone, Astoria and Long Island City have seen more than 2,860 units since Sandy hit, the study found. Nearly 3,600 units have gone up in neighboring flood-prone areas of northern Brooklyn.
“At least one out of every eight new units expected to open in New York City over the next four years will sit in a serious flood zone,” said Localize.city data scientist Idan Richman. “Moreover, 97 percent of the new buildings under construction in the floodplain are in areas that were inundated during Sandy.”
The citywide analysis found roughly 12 percent of all New York apartments – about 12,350 units – have gone up or are being built in areas deemed the most risky by FEMA’s 2015 Preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Map.
Long Island City, Williamsburg and Greenpoint will see the brunt of that “in terms of sheer numbers of new units,” analysts said. The three neighborhoods make up nearly half of the developments in serious flood risk areas.
The city has upped its efforts to protect the nearly 70,000 buildings in its flood zones since Hurricane Sandy first ravaged New York, but work on much of those infrastructure projects still won’t finish for another decade, said urban planner Olivia Jovine.
“The bottom line is that all new construction in the flood zone is required to be built to the city’s new building code, and owners will be required to buy flood insurance,” Jovine said.
“But buyers and renters should be aware of both the immediate and long-term outlook for how their home and neighborhood could be affected.”
Lead photo by Michael Heiman/Getty Images
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