Transcript: Adams Administration Updates New Yorkers on Weather Preparations Ahead of Anticipated Rainfall and Potential Flooding

October 6, 2023

First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright: Good afternoon. My name is Sheena Wright, I'm the first deputy mayor, and I want to first start off by saying we have all been in constant communications with the mayor as he travels abroad. We have with us today Fabien Levy, our deputy mayor for Communications; Meera Joshi, our deputy mayor for Operations; Zach Iscol, our commissioner for New York City Emergency Management; Ydanis Rodriguez, our commissioner for the Department of Transportation; and, Laura Kavanagh, our commissioner for the Fire Department.

This briefing is to let New York City know that we are preparing for periods of potentially heavy rain from around 2 a.m. tonight through Saturday afternoon. According to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service, New Yorkers should expect anywhere from one and a half to two and a half inches of rain or more city wide with the potential for three to four inches in some areas of the city as conditions shift.

We are encouraging New Yorkers to plan ahead as the ground is still saturated from last week's heavy rain, which could result in potentially significant flooding and travel disruptions in typical flood prone areas.

Our city is taking action to protect all New Yorkers, including if necessary rescuing those in need of help. Every single one of our agencies has an emergency plan, and we are executing those plans. We are ready and you should be as well. Here are some things that you New Yorkers should and can do.

Please, be alert to your surroundings and be cautious. If you live in a flood prone area or a basement apartment, remove your belongings from the floor and be prepared to move to a higher area. Since this is happening overnight, you might be asleep, so you should be preparing now. Allow for extra travel time and use public transportation. If you must drive, please drive slowly and use major streets and highways if possible. Do not drive into flooded areas or streets or go into flooded subway stations.

Six inches of moving water can knock over an adult, so try not to step into flood water if you see it. Call 911 for help in case of an emergency. For non urgent issues, call 311. Check on your friends, relatives, neighbors, especially the elderly and those with health conditions. And please sign up for NotifyNYC. It will give you regular updates about traffic, transit disruptions as well as other notifications. You can sign up by calling 311, visiting nyc.gov/notifynyc, or by following NotifyNYC on Twitter.

Additionally, as we are preparing for potential significant flooding tonight and tomorrow, our teams have been hard at work recovering from last week's historic flooding as well. As you'll recall, we had to temporarily transfer all patients from NYC Health + Hospitals Woodhull Hospital to allow for electrical repairs. Thanks to our team's effort, those repairs are completed. The hospital will resume operations tomorrow morning at eight a.m. for emergency and labor delivery units, and the rest of the hospital will start accepting patients on Tuesday morning.

I'll close with this: in this time of man‑made climate crisis, flash floods and other climate events are a part of our reality. This is in fact the new normal. In addition to emergency preparedness, we are also taking long‑term immediate steps to lessen the harm caused by these emergencies.  We are tackling the issue at its source by reducing our city's impact on the planet, and we must continue to draw down emissions, reduce waste, build resiliency and innovate for a greener and more sustainable future.

We want to stay safe, and we will if we work together. I'm going to first introduce Commissioner Iscol to give us a full detailed update.

Commissioner Zachary Iscol, New York City Emergency Management: Great. Thank you, First Deputy Mayor. Here in the City of New York, the safety of all New Yorkers is our highest priority and we're taking comprehensive, coordinated steps to mitigate the impact of this weather situation over this evening into tomorrow.

Yesterday, we activated our flash flood emergency plan, which involves the concerted efforts of multiple city agencies including partners from the state and the federal government like the National Weather Service. Here in the city, that includes the Fire Department, NYPD, Department of Environmental Protection, Sanitation, DOT and more.

Together we work to ensure a seamless response to flash flood emergencies. Our Emergency Operations Center is already fully functional and is serving as a hub for strategic and efficient allocation of resources across our great city.

The Flash Flood Emergency Steering Committee has been convened to act as the central coordinating body for interagency preparedness. this is what we do every time that we activate the flash flood plan. This committee is planning, executing and overseeing the tasks required to address this weather threat.

Our agencies, from Department of Environment Protection, Sanitation, Transportation are already on the ground clearing catch basins, particularly in areas that we know flood regularly. This is crucial to preventing rainwater from causing major disruptions.

In terms of public awareness the city is boosting hazard consciousness through specific public warnings and advisories. Vital information concerning safety precautions, available resources and key city actions are being communicated through multiple city agencies. This is to ensure that New Yorkers are informed and prepared for the upcoming wet weather conditions.

We strongly urge all New Yorkers to take safety measures seriously. If you have to travel, please use public transportation. If you must drive, please use major streets or highways and drive carefully and cautiously. If you must travel tonight and tomorrow, expect and plan for delays.

One specific area of concern we are actively addressing is the safety of our residents in basement apartments. These spaces are uniquely vulnerable to flooding, and we are taking this issue very seriously. If you find yourself in a dangerous situation in a basement apartment, please leave and call 911 immediately. Do not hesitate to do this.

Our Emergency Management team has been focused on disseminating information tailored for residents in these lower level living spaces. We've gone beyond merely sending out warnings; we've been gauging canvassing and organized an event over the summer city‑wide that specifically targeted people who live in basements and in these areas.

To further assist, we've also created a specialized NotifyNYC subgroup for basement apartments. This will provide key updates that are particularly relevant if you live in a basement space. To sign up, you can go to nyc.gov/notify or you can call 311.

The increasing urgency of recent weather events highlight that climate change is here and it is a "now" issue. We're maximizing every resource to bolster New York City's resilience against climate related threats. While major projects are underway, it's crucial for every New Yorker to stay informed and take action.

NotifyNYC, as the first deputy mayor said, is our free emergency notification system. This system allows us to send you real‑time crucial information about weather updates or other emergencies. If you haven't signed up yet, now is the time. You can go to nyc.gov/notifynyc, you can call 311 or download the app. It's available in 14 languages including American Sign Language. You can also follow us on Twitter at Notify NYC. Thank you, and be safe.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Thank you, Commissioner Iscol. Next up, we have our commissioner for the Fire Department, Commissioner Kavanagh.

Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh: Thank you, and good afternoon. I want to talk a little bit about what the fire department has on every day as a redundancy for emergencies in storms like this and what specific resources we have for this storm.

So, every single day, 24 hours a day, the FDNY has 111 water‑trained rescue units that are in service. They're trained in cold water rescues and have exposure suits, buoys and life preservers. We also have five rescue companies, eight squad units for a total of 68 members who are always working who are trained in advanced water rescue techniques. These include the skills for some of the more dangerous operations that we see in rivers and swift water.

To deal with wind and tree events, we have 143 ladder companies on 24/7 that are equipped with chainsaws and can aid with downed trees if wind comes along with the rain. If needed, we can activate that task force at any time, and we will be working with our partners in OEM to decide if we need to activate that for this storm at any point.

We also have six high axle vehicles available, three of them were in service for last week's storm and will likely be for this week's storm as we monitor the weather. They are the vehicles that help us rescue especially those motorists who get stranded in flash floods.

We also have three on duty SOC units with additional chainsaws if needed, and we are staffed and ready to go in dispatch and also have a redundancy plan for up staffing in dispatch if we end up getting more calls during these storms. We are definitely prepared and ready to go and continue to monitor the storm and can adjust our specialized resources as necessary as the storm unfolds. Thank you.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Thank you, Commissioner Kavanaugh. Next up, we have Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi.

Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Operations: Good afternoon. I want to just take a step back for a moment and talk about where we are and where we have to go. This was the hottest summer since global records began in 1880, and the wettest September in New York City in 140 years. Floods that could be expected to occur once every 500 years now take place every 100 years, 100‑year storms take place every 20 years.

As the deputy mayor responsible for this city's infrastructure and operating agencies, our team is on the frontlines of shoring up our city's foundation against the critical damage of climate change: excessive heat, torrential rain, high tides, pollution. Today the focus is water; and to fight water, we have to handle more of it in more unpredictable times.

Our sewer system cannot do it alone. Although we've added 125 miles...this administration has added 125 miles to our 7,000 miles and more of sewer, like so many cities across the globe we must become more absorbent. We must become a sponge. That takes many forms: small, immediately small areas that we green so they absorb water in storms, to large places, ponds and wetlands that can absorb large quantities of water in a storm, to playgrounds that double as holding tanks to hold water.

These are all throughout our city, and we have plans to really engage in broadening our footprint of an absorbent New York City. We've added 10,000 linear feet of porous pavement; and as Ida taught us so many lessons, we took them and we've completed a vast majority of the recommendations in the post Ida report. And we're going beyond with even broader and bolder plans to make our city resilient in our Plan NYC and our Rainfall Ready reports.

But we really need two essential tools: one, funding; and two, construction delivery. We've invested over 300 million in resiliency. We've got applications out for another 200 million from the federal government. But we have to competitively compete each time we ask for money; and unlike housing, transportation and social services, we don't have reliable formula federal dollars that come to us year after year. It's time we change that and really prioritize resiliency across the nation and especially in our urban centers.

And two, the delivery tools — how to build better, faster and higher quality. Working with Comptroller Brad Lander, we've been lobbying Albany to get the authority to get those delivery tools that will allow us to do this work faster, cheaper and deliver for New Yorkers. So, we're confident with both the plans that we have, our pursuit in getting the tools that we need, we will be able to keep New Yorkers and continue to keep New Yorkers sound, safe and dry. Thank you very much.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Thank you. Next up, I think we have Yokarina Duarte, the chief of staff to the commissioner of Emergency Management.

Yokarina Duarte, Chief of Staff, New York City Emergency Management: Thank you. So, this message is in Spanish, so for the Spanish speakers, the press. [Speaks in Spanish.]

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Thank you. I think, Fabien, now we're going to take some questions.

Question: Thanks, hi. I have two questions, actually. First, I know there's talk about an after action report after Ida, and I'm wondering, is there, has there been one after last week's storm? What lessons has the city learned in terms of messaging, other preparedness issues, is that being put into action this week.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: We are actively preparing an after action review which we traditionally do after any incident, and so that is absolutely in progress and going back to look at other reports. What we have done, as Deputy Mayor Joshi said, many of the recommendations from the Ida report have actually been completed by this administration and we're continuing to follow up on the other things that we need to do as we move forward.

Question: The second question is, I guess, you know, there's all this resilience that's working, you're waiting for [inaudible], you know, what is a New Yorker to do when, you know, the Bronx River Parkway, for example, which flooded, people got trapped after Ida, they got trapped last week. You're driving along, the storm is happening. At what point should people expect things like that to be fixed?

Deputy Mayor Joshi: I'll take some of it, I mean, some of it is preparedness, right? So, we do travel advisories and we warn people about traveling in inclement weather. In low lying areas, it's particularly difficult. And so it's a combination of the resiliency work that we've done, and we have a few examples recently in the Rockaways and in downtown Brooklyn where we've changed the sewer work, we've done work around making areas more absorbent.

And with this most recent flooding, those neighborhoods saw marked difference. So, it makes a difference when we do the work, and we're determined to pick up the pace of the work and ensure that we're doing that work across the boroughs,. but really zoning in the areas that are the most vulnerable.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: And just also, as Deputy Mayor Joshi said, it takes too long to get the work done, so we've got it cut out all of the unnecessary steps. And we have plans in place to do that, but we need help from Albany. And we also have to appreciate that our infrastructure is hundreds of years old, so it's not going to be fixed overnight. So, we're going to continue to have these problems in the short term, but we can fix them more quickly if we can get through some of the bureaucratic challenges that we currently face.

Question: But just in the meantime, what's the message to New Yorkers?

Deputy Mayor Joshi: Yes. There are preparedness but there are short‑term actions we take, like the rain gardens that we put out. They may look like nothing, but in quantity, they make a difference. Making sure that the catch basins are clear, so bringing back alternate side of the street parking did a lot to ensure that those catch basins are clear.

But do your part. You know, throwing trash down a catch basin is actually very harmful for us in more than just the littering. Making sure your gutters are clean and your household's taken care of. And DOT does a tremendous amount of work working with DEP to prepare in advance for those areas where we can expect flooding and try to move traffic away from them.

So, we have to do a lot of short‑term fixes as the long term are in progress, but it's continuous movement towards understanding that as a city we have to be able to absorb more water.

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