Arrianee LeBeau: And joining us live now with an update on the city's efforts on this weather alert day, Mayor Eric Adams. Mayor, thank you for joining us.
Mayor Eric Adams: ...to be on with you.
Tamsen Fadal: Well, mayor, let's, let's get up to date right now. As of right now, which borough are you hearing is taking the most damage at this point?
Mayor Adams: Brooklyn, my beloved Brooklyn, you know, as a former borough president, you know, as I drove through this morning, I was in Canarsie, Flatbush and passed Sheepshead Bay and Prospect Park area, we saw a great deal of rainfall, I think, when the totals of finally told Brooklyn probably got some of the record levels. And this was a record level storm that was here, and we are happy that we are moving from a flood warning to a flood watch, which is a sort of a downgrade. For more rain to come, we want to continue to encourage New Yorkers to remain indoors.
LeBeau: Alright. Well, Mayor, right before we had you on, we played some sound from Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. Now, he says the city is failing to address well‑known problem areas. What's your response to this?
Mayor Adams: Well, I think that that was in what Donovan stated. I think he was stating that throughout the years, we've been having these problems. We have a great partnership with the Queens Borough president. We put a great deal of money in that borough, and we are rolling out some real initiatives with the council person of the leaders there. You know, we have to shift the lives that we are living. Let's be clear, this is a record storm level.
We must do intervention right now. That's what we're doing about shoring up our shorelines and different changes in how we build our infrastructure, and then we have to change some of our habits. There are things that we must do, government must do. We rolled that out in PlaNYC. These are long‑term projects that is going to take a great deal of capital funding coming on a federal, state and city level, and we're up for the challenge.
Fadal: So, I want to ask you something. Our schools obviously in‑person today, a lot was made of that decision. Do you think at this point, looking at it tonight, looking back, the right call was made there?
Mayor Adams: Oh, without a doubt. Think about it for a moment. I said this during Covid that the safest place for a child is in a school building. And so many of the people who are in the city, they can work remotely, they can stay home, they could be with their children, but that's not a reality.
If you are a teacher, a firefighter, a nurse, a doctor, if you are stocking the shelves in our various supermarkets, it is a great impact and a great level of despair when you tell parents that one or two days that all of a sudden you have to find emergency childcare. And some of these children don't have adequate food at home. They look for that breakfast and that lunch that we receive safest place for a child is in a school. Kudos to the chancellor for making the right decision and not doing something I think would be really reckless to have done.
LeBeau: Well, mayor, speaking of schools, we know that some schools experience flooding. Could this possibly impact their ability to go back into session on Monday?
Mayor Adams: No. Not at all. Are we going to deal with the flooding issue? We are going to make sure that the water is moved from the area so our children could be backing out in the schools. This is really a testament to this city. When you saw the first responders and New Yorkers, look at what happened. Record level of rain. We learned from the past, zero reported deaths, zero reported serious injuries. Three people trapped in the basement, we responded 50 FDNY did their job, 15 trapped in cars, FDNY did their job. Listen, let's really look at the success of the multifacet of this city responding to a record rain level. And, you know, you can always easily find a reason to say nay, but I'm saying, yay. We saw a city respond in the resiliency of this city.
Fadal: I mean, you see some of those images come in tonight, and we're seeing new ones all the time. It really is remarkable, Mayor. Let me ask you something. We talked about the MTA a little bit ago, but multiple subway suspensions, they remain at this hour. We heard from the MTA about that. What can you tell us about actually driving around the city and how long those crews it'll take them to clean up the damage and clear those streets?
Mayor Adams: The water is starting to dissipate. And let's remember, I'll…
LeBeau: Oh, think we lost him there.
Fadal: All right. I think we lost him. But you know what? He makes a really good point. Like there is a lot going on right now. We're getting new images all the time. Water is starting to recede, and you know, that cleanup out there continues. So we, of course, will keep an eye on it for you as well.
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