The New York Times never disappoints me in their ongoing quest to defraud the public about climate. Now they are blaming a storm surge at an airport on climate change.
No mention of the fact that the airport is on an artificial island right at sea level, which sank almost three feet per year from 1989 to 1999. Google Earth lists the elevation of the airport as -57 feet.
An artificial island, 4 km (2.5 mi) long and 2.5 km (1.6 mi) wide, was proposed. Engineers needed to overcome the extremely high risks of earthquakes and typhoons (with storm surges of up to 3 m, 10 ft). The water depth is 18 m on top of 20 m of soft Holocene clay which holds 70% water.[10][11][12][13] A million sand drains were built into the clay to remove water and solidify the clay.[12][13]
Construction started in 1987. The sea wall was finished in 1989 (made of rock and 48,000 tetrapods). Three mountains were excavated for 21 million m3(27 million cu yd),[citation needed] and 180 million m3 (240 million cu yd) was used to construct island 1.[11] 10,000 workers and 10 million work hours over three years, using eighty ships, were needed to complete the 30-metre (98 ft) (or 40 m)[11] layer of earth over the sea floor and inside the sea wall. In 1990, a three kilometer bridge was completed to connect the island to the mainland at Rinku Town, at a cost of $1 billion.[citation needed] Completion of the artificial island increased the area of Osaka Prefecture just enough that it is no longer the smallest prefecture in Japan (Kagawa Prefecture is now the smallest).
The bidding and construction of the airport was a source of international trade friction during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone responded to American concerns, particularly from Senator Frank Murkowski, that bids would be rigged in Japanese companies’ favour by providing special offices for prospective international contractors,[14] which ultimately did little to ease the participation of foreign contractors in the bidding process.[15] Later, foreign airlines complained that two-thirds of the departure hall counter space had been allocated to Japanese carriers, disproportionately to the actual carriage of passengers through the airport.[16]
The island had been predicted to sink 5.7 m (19 ft) by the most optimistic estimate as the weight of the material used for construction compressed the seabed silts. However, by 1999, the island had sunk 8.2 m (27 ft) – much more than predicted. The project became the most expensive civil works project in modern history after twenty years of planning, three years of construction and fifteen billion (US) dollars of investment. Much of what was learned went into the successful artificial islands in silt deposits for New Kitakyushu Airport, Kobe Airport, and Ch?bu Centrair International Airport. The lessons of Kansai Airport were also applied in the construction of Hong Kong International Airport.[17]
Kansai International Airport – Wikipedia
Japan has deadly typhoons and storm surges every year. During September 1896, thousands of people in Japan were killed by a typhoon, storm surge and earthquake on the same day. If New York Times authors actually read the New York Times, they would know this.
TimesMachine: September 4, 1896 – NYTimes.com
The New York Times article failed to explain any of the relevant information related to the storm, and instead tried to get their readers hysterical about imaginary climate change. They are a propaganda organization, not a news organization.
And of course none of their partners in crime in the press will mention any of this, because – just like in 1953 – the “independent” newspaper industry is joined at the hip, and parrot the same news streams from the same sources.
