AP IMPACT: NYC flood protection won't be easy NEW YORK (AP) -
Inside tunnels threading under a Houston medical campus, 100
submarine doors stand ready to block invading floodwaters.
Before commuters in Bangkok can head down into the city's
subways, they must first climb three feet of stairs to raised
entrances, equipped with flood gates. In Washington, D.C.,
managers of a retail and apartment complex need just two hours
to activate steel walls designed to hold back as much as a
17-foot rise in the Potomac River. If metropolitan New York is
going to defend itself from surges like the one that overwhelmed
the region during Superstorm Sandy, decision makers can start by
studying how others have fought the threat of fast-rising water.
And they must accept an unsettling reality: Limiting the damage
caused by flooding will likely demand numerous changes, large
and small, and yet even substantial protections will be far from
absolute. Sandy's toll is overwhelming. But finding the money
and political will to build a