"The Last-Ditch Climate Strategy of Total Retreat Is Failing in America"

"After two vicious floods, Sidney, N.Y., decided to pull back from the river. Seven years later, things haven’t turned out as planned."

"Corrine Spry had no way of knowing, on the day Tropical Storm Lee ruined her house seven years ago, that she was about to become part of a radical experiment to transform how the U.S. protects itself against climate change. All she knew was that it had been raining for days, so she’d better get some cash.

Spry set out in her car through Sidney, N.Y., a fading village of roughly 4,000 along the Susquehanna River, swollen from the storm and rising fast. On the way home from the bank, she saw firefighters huddled in front of their station. They’d already taken out Sidney’s rescue boat. Spry, who’d lived down the street for 30 years, knew most by name. She pulled over to ask how much time she had. Get your stuff, the firefighters told her, and get out now.

A small woman who moves and speaks in quick bursts, Spry rushed home and called in some favors. Pickup trucks soon arrived. She and her husband, Lynn, moved what they could and drove to higher ground. Six feet of water filled her neighborhood, swallowing front porches and flowing into living rooms."

Christopher Flavelle reports for Bloomberg May 2, 2018.