Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on CNN's "The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer"

September 29, 2023

Wolf Blitzer: Meanwhile, we're also following other breaking news. A state of emergency in New York right now. People are being urged to stay home, stay off the roads after possibly historic rainfall in the state. We're seeing dramatic video of flooded streets and subways after a potentially record setting 10 inches of rain in only 24 hours.
I'm joined now by the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams. Mayor Adams, thank you so much for joining us. First of all, what's the situation right now, and what are you doing to make sure people in those flood zones and basement apartments especially are safe.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thanks so much. And I also wanted to add my heart to Senator Feinstein, you know, just a real trailblazer and you know a great loss for our nation.
You know, when you talk about what we're dealing with right now here in New York City, I was out early this morning surveying the roads, communicating with our first responders, and I went out a few hours ago to do an observation. The water is receding. We're moving from a storm warning to a storm watch, sort of downgrading the urgency of the matter.

But we have more rain that's coming, and we want to continue to encourage New Yorkers to remain inside unless there is a need to be outside. But hats off to our first responders, hats off to New Yorkers of how we weathered this record level of rain, zero known deaths, zero major injuries because of this. Rescuing three people from the basement with FDNY, rescuing people that were stalled on the roads. We learned a lot from the previous storms, and we've handled this well.

Blitzer: What more, mayor, can you tell us about the rescues that have been underway?  The video is really devastating and what the response looks like now.

Mayor Adams: Right now the FDNY, NYPD, NYCEM are all coordinating together to make sure as soon as we get any notification that an individual is either trapped in their vehicle or if they're in one of our basement apartments. Here in New York City we have something that's called basement apartments and we've learned from previous storms where we lost New Yorkers due to that we put in place a real plan to number one, communicate with those who are living in the basement apartments, but also to respond accordingly and know where they are located.

Blitzer: How do you respond, Mayor, to the critics out there who say you didn't do enough about warning the folks in New York about this flooding?

Mayor Adams: Now, you've been around a long time. As you know, every time you have a flood or a major casualty, that is part of the narrative, that's part of the call. I have an amazing team. It did not take me to stand in front of a camera. I have an ex-military expert, Commissioner Zach Iscol, who is in charge of my NYCEM. I put out clear orders to all of the men and women of my team that you must lead.

If the mayor is the only one that can communicate to the public, we're in trouble. I have to run the city, NYCEM communicated around 2:45, 2:50 yesterday communicated to New Yorkers. We have something called NYC notifications that we send out that went out early yesterday as well.

And then the news media. You had to be living under a rock if you didn't know this storm was coming, because the news media did a amazing job. We used social media, we did exactly what was needed, and you see the results.

Blitzer: But should New Yorkers, Mayor… Here's the criticism. Should New Yorkers have gotten a clear warning last night to stay home today before people began commuting this morning on flooded subways, roads and buses?

Mayor Adams: Think about it for a moment. Our subways and our buses, they're the lifeline to our city. This city has to function. I cannot tell all my teachers to stay home. I can't tell my firefighters to stay home. I cannot tell my nurses, my doctors, all those who use this city. And so when we ask for New Yorkers to stay home, that's non essential personnel, individuals that if you don't have to go out to remain inside.

That's the way you run this city as complex as New York, because if my firefighters and my police officers, my transit operators and my bus drivers, if they stay home the city is not going to function. We did the right thing and because of that we had no deaths, no serious injuries reported thus far.

Blitzer: All right. Well, let's hope it stays like that. Mayor Eric Adams, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Take care.

###