Actually, New York is spared from the wars of man - missiles were indeed targeted for the city, but a strange light much like the aurora borealis appeared above the city, and witnesses on Long Island claim to have seen beams of light shoot out from the area of Montauk at the end of the island. Thus, the city was spared from the nuclear annihilation that wiped out much of the east coast.
Mother Nature took her swipe at the city through the use of a massive hurricane—a storm more powerful than even the last great hurricane from the early 20th century (1938). It flooded most of Long Island, destroying many of the pleasure palaces in the Hamptons and overpowering the sewer system in Queens and Brooklyn. While the waters eventually receded, the damage done by the winds was enough to have most flee the island and never return. Disease spread rampant through the west end of Long Island and the two boroughs, and many lost their lives as the damages from the storm prevented many from escaping or for rescue and relief efforts to make it into the region. Manhattan suffered a similar fate, but the skyline was relatively spared as the buildings had been built to modern codes to withstand high winds and other damaging effects. The Bronx and Staten Island were mostly spared as they were high enough to weather the storm.
After the waters receded, it was discovered that much of the shoreline had been eroded, and some areas suffered from tremors from the water that had eventually forced its way into crevaces in the foundations surrounding the large buildings. Not from earthquakes, but simply from the massive amount of underground development that had been flooded and washed away supports and other material, causing some of the buildings to eventually fall under their own weight.
All of this was minor compared to the rest of the world, and the city continued to rebuild as it always had…
...Then the meteors came. They struck throughout the northeast, wiping out whatever cities and towns had been missed by the wars of man and Mother Nature’s revenge. Whatever had protected New York from the missiles decades earlier did not seem to resurface or activate—a meteor, only the size of a grapefruit, struck the north end of Central Park. This time, the Bronx did not survive. With a blast equal to that of a nuclear bomb, most of the Bronx and the northern half of Manhattan were destroyed. A crater almost fifty foot deep and over a mile across scarred the cityscape.
As with disasters of the past, the city rallied like never before and rebuilt anew. A new modern city was built above the ruins of the original, and the subterranean world of tunnels, basements, and other areas became a haven for the criminal elements. A wall was erected between the Bronx and Yonkers, to help protect the city and control access from the rest of the lands to the north.
As for Lady Liberty, she lost more than her head. The weight of the metal plates and the stresses over time caused them to eventually fall away, leaving only a portion of her legs. Not willing to spend the funds to refurbish the statue, the city decided to pull it down the rest of the way. A museum still stands on the island, but the primary purpose now is as a base for the small navy of farmers that work in the surrounding vertical farm towers that supply much of the food for the city.
