How Cities are Bracing for Infrastructure Damage From Climate Change

Some city governments are coming to the hard conclusion that their infrastructure cannot withstand the punishing effects of the stronger storms generated by climate change.

Highways, water treatment facilities and the power grid are all under increasing threat to extreme weather events, Smithsonian Magazine reported. But newer plans to address weak infrastructures across the country — including the Trump administration’s revitalization plan — ignore climate change as a primary concern.

The sewage pumps, of the past, for example, were designed to handle precipitation levels of the past, and need to be updated with newer weather trends in mind.

To combat these new problems, only a few forward-thinking cities like New York, Portland, Miami and Chicago are requiring new plans for an unforeseeable future to be adaptable and multifunctional. In Miami, a $500 million plan to upgrade infrastructure includes building up roads to higher elevations in order to protect oceanfront properties from rising seas.