Opinion: Another Superstorm Sandy Would be an Economic Disaster for Working Families

“We must build a future where every New Yorker makes a living wage and earns enough to cover the basic necessities to survive and then some, so that a climate emergency doesn’t mean financial ruin and impossible existential choices.”

This fall, Hurricanes Helene and Milton took America by surprise. Areas once thought safe from hurricanes, like landlocked western North Carolina and sheltered Tampa, were suddenly thrust into chaos as record-breaking storms barrelled toward them. Workers weighed whether they could afford to take time off to evacuate; families sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic and navigated exorbitant travel expenses in their attempts to flee; and after the storms rolled through, people returned to pick up the pieces of their homes, businesses, and livelihoods left in shambles.

It’s a sobering reminder of Superstorm Sandy, which ravaged New York 12 years ago this week. The costs were catastrophic: 53 people died and countless more experienced illness and injury.  Over 2 million households lost power, more than 300,000 homes were destroyed and 100,000 more flooded, with damages amounting to an estimated $32 billion. 

Extreme weather events like these are only getting more frequent and more devastating. Hurricanes Helene and Milton killed more than 245 people and damages are expected to surpass $50 billion each, while the average household cost can top $20,000. It’s no secret that the climate crisis is here and gaining speed as New Yorkers grow more familiar with sweltering heat; suffocating, smoky air; and severe flooding. But our government is ignoring the crushing financial costs of these disasters for working families and communities. 

In the lead-up to Helene and Milton, we heard stories of bosses putting workers in danger, leaving them to choose between job security and their safety. Families living paycheck to paycheck were forced to make impossible decisions about whether they could afford to evacuate, as corporate airlines and hotels grossly jacked up prices responding to demand. Thousands sat in traffic for hours, waiting for fuel and for a route to safety on crowded highways. 

This could be us, our neighbors, our families. Are New York and New Yorkers prepared for another Sandy, or worse? 

Every day we are learning there is no climate haven for anyone, anywhere. But our climate crisis does not exist in a vacuum. It’s inextricably linked to corporate greed and our affordability crisis. The cost of rent, groceries, and childcare continue to increase as wages stay stagnant. Mega-corporations continue to merge and grow more powerful, gouging prices while failing to pay fair wages and ensure safe working conditions.

Corporate reliance on fossil fuels holds us back from expanding accessible and affordable public transit beyond metro areas. These intersecting crises are felt by many of us, but not equitably; Black, brown, Indigenous, and immigrant communities disproportionately hold low wage jobs and reside in areas most vulnerable to climate impacts, bearing the brunt of our generation’s most existential threats. 

We can’t address just one problem at a time. We have to act on climate solutions while we transform our economy to work for everyone. So what can we do? 

Back in 2012, ALIGN and the Alliance for a Just Rebuilding coalition worked to ensure that Sandy recovery jobs benefitted low-income and affected New Yorkers, and would turn into career union jobs. And in 2019, labor unions, environmental justice groups, and impacted communities came together to pass a Climate Act that set nation-leading mandates to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in one of the world’s largest economies. But we are falling behind.

We have a few solutions at the ready. Gov. Kathy Hochul has until the end of the year to sign the Climate Change Superfund Act, which would make the biggest polluters pay for damages to fund climate action, especially in environmental justice communities, and create a path to a renewable economy.

She can also reinstate the Congestion Pricing program she paused earlier this year to ensure the MTA has enough funding to maintain, improve, and expand the LIRR, MetroNorth, and NYC Transit system. Mayor Eric Adams can fully implement our “dirty buildings” law, Local Law 97, by incentivizing and enforcing green energy upgrades for private buildings and funding them for public ones, starting with schools in frontline communities.

But we must also build a future where every New Yorker makes a living wage and earns enough to cover the basic necessities to survive and then some, so that a climate emergency doesn’t mean financial ruin and impossible existential choices. We need corporate accountability and guardrails to stop monopoly power, so that consumers aren’t funding shareholders’ megaprofits in times of crisis. And long-term, we must do much, much more to curb our reliance on fossil fuels toward green, accessible transit across the state, and implement a renewable economy for all New Yorkers. 

We can’t let another, more fearsome Sandy destroy our communities inside and out. Our leaders must act urgently to address our overlapping climate and economic crises—our survival depends on it. 

Moore is the executive director of climate and economic justice organization ALIGN.