Summer storms were a climate change wake-up call for U.S. subways

Nearly a decade after Superstorm Sandy spurred billions of dollars in investment in coastal flooding protection up and down the East Coast -- some of which remains unfinished -- Hurricane Ida and other storms this summer provided a stark reminder that more needs to be done.

In Philadelphia, a commuter line along the Schuylkill River was washed out for miles, and the nation's busiest rail line, Amtrak's Northeast Corridor running from Boston to Washington, was shut down for an entire day.

Nearly a decade after Superstorm Sandy spurred billions of dollars in investment in coastal flooding protection up and down the East Coast -- some of which remains unfinished -- Hurricane Ida and other storms this summer provided a stark reminder that more needs to be done -- and quickly -- as climate change brings stronger, more unpredictable weather to a region with some of the nation's oldest and busiest transit systems, say transit experts and officials.

"This is our moment to make sure our transit system is prepared," said Sanjay Seth, Boston's "climate resilience" program manager. "There's a lot that we need to do in the next 10 years, and we have to do it right. There's no need to build it twice."

In New York, where some 75 million gallons (285 million litres) of water were pumped out of the subways during Ida, ambitious solutions have been floated, such as building canals through the city.