The storm next time

As Tropical Storm Isaias bore down on Gotham Tuesday, Mayor de Blasio warned that low-lying areas of the city could flood. “The key is to be resilient,” the mayor said, promising he’d “start the work now of reimagining our city for the future” to make it less vulnerable to future storms. Now? Is he kidding?

Eight years ago, a little storm named Sandy inflicted an estimated $19 billion in damages on the five boroughs, wiping out whole neighborhoods. In its wake, de Blasio promised to do right by victims and build a city that could withstand future hurricanes in a world that, due to climate change, would bring ever more of them to our shores.

All this time later, plans intended to protect low-lying neighborhoods most vulnerable to flooding are nowhere close to complete. Many have yet to break ground.

De Blasio can’t blame a lack of funds. City Controller Scott Stringer reported last year the city had spent only half of $14.7 billion in federal aid provided.

The $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency project, intended to raise ground levels along the Lower East Side waterfront, was supposed to begin three years ago. The de Blasio administration dithered, and is now on its third major revision of a plan that won’t be complete until 2025 at the earliest.

Same goes for plans to storm-proof Manhattan’s southern tip and build a 5.3-mile sea wall along Staten Island’s shores.

Sandy caught us by surprise. There’s no excuse when the next devastating storm hit.