LIVE STREAMING
NYC power outage during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Photo: Justin Lane, EFE

NYC and Philadelphia are most likely to lose power in storms

New research from Johns Hopkins University has determined the top 10 cities that are more likely to be susceptible to blackouts from future hurricanes.

MORE IN THIS SECTION

Mourning in Colombia

Piñatas For Everyone

A Latino in the Stars

Hispanic Role Model

A Latino Storyteller

Pau Gasol enters the HOF

The G.O.A.T. comes to Philly

New opportunity for JJ Barea

SHARE THIS CONTENT:

Climate change has been affecting the world we live in and our everyday lives. The high levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has the United Nations reporting that “we are running out of time.” Now new research from Johns Hopkins University has determined the top 10 cities that are more likely to be susceptible to blackouts from future hurricanes, due to climate change.

Researchers used historic hurricane information and various potential future storm scenarios to create a computer model to predict which U.S. cities’ power grids are most vulnerable to power outages during hurricanes.

Philadelphia ranked number two on the list, following New York City.

“For both New York City and Philadelphia, the 100-year storm scenario, that is, the level of storm impacts expected to be exceeded on average once every hundred years, would be 50 percent higher. More people would lose power more often, and the worst storms would be substantially worse,” Seth Guikema, an associate professor at John Hopkins university’s and co-author of the report, said in a press release.

The other cities in the 10 top list include Jacksonville, FL; Virginia Beach, VA; Hartford, CT; Orlando, FL; Tampa, FL; Providence, RI; Miami, FL and New Orleans, LA. The cities whose potential risk of outages that are unlikely to change include Memphis, TN; Dallas, TX; Pittsburgh, PA; Atlanta, GA and Buffalo, NY.

Guikema said he hopes the research could help cities better plan for climate change.

“We provide insight into how power systems along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts may be affected by climate changes including which areas should be most concerned and which ones are unlikely to see substantial change,” Guikema said.  “If I’m mayor of Miami, we know about hurricanes, we know about outages and our system has been adapted for it. But if I’m mayor of Philadelphia, I might say, ‘Whoa, we need to be doing more about this.”

  • LEAVE A COMMENT:

  • Join the discussion! Leave a comment.

  • or
  • REGISTER
  • to comment.
  • LEAVE A COMMENT:

  • Join the discussion! Leave a comment.

  • or
  • REGISTER
  • to comment.