#41-25
December 16, 2025

GETTING STUFF DONE FOR EVERY EMERGENCY: HOW NYCEM HELPED NEW YORKERS STAY FOCUSED, STAY COORDINATED, AND RESPOND FAST

NEW YORK — Over the past four years, New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM) has defined what readiness looks like in the nation's largest city. Under Mayor Eric Adams, NYCEM has expanded its capabilities and responded to every crisis with operational discipline and coordinated action.  

Before floodwaters rose, NYCEM sent life-saving alerts. When heat waves stretched across the city, cooling centers opened before the first call for help. When storms hit, fires spread, power failed, and thousands of asylum seekers arrived needing shelter, NYCEM turned coordination into action and plans into results. From the long recovery of COVID-19 to record-breaking weather and historic humanitarian challenges, the agency has provided necessary resources and support. Across all five boroughs, NYCEM delivered on every emergency with coordination, speed, and results, showing what it means to get stuff done for New York City. 
 
"We took office with a simple promise: to 'Get Stuff Done,’ and, four years later, our administration can say we delivered that every day for working-class New Yorkers," said Mayor Eric Adams. "We drove shootings to record lows and pushed jobs and small businesses to record highs. We rewrote the playbook on homelessness and mental health to finally get New Yorkers living on our streets the help they need, and, after decades of half-measures, passed historic housing legislation to turn New York into a 'City of Yes.' We overhauled the way our students learn to read and do math, cut the cost of child care, and forgave medical debt. We eliminated taxes for low-income families, launched free universal after-school programming, expanded our capabilities to respond to every crisis with the effectiveness New Yorkers deserve. We got scaffolding off our buildings, trash bags off our streets, and opened up new public spaces for New Yorkers to enjoy. Whether it was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, navigating an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, or facing extreme weather challenges, New York City Emergency Management delivered for New Yorkers and kept them informed, prepared, and safe. The haters may have doubted us, but the results are clear. On issue after issue, we brought common-sense leadership to create a safer, more affordable city, and our work has changed our city for the better; it will stand the test of time because we made New York City the best place to live and raise a family." 
 
"At its core, NYCEM exists to serve the city’s 8.5 million people when they need it most,” said NYCEM Commissioner Zach Iscol. "Together, our expert team of dedicated emergency managers supported the city’s recovery from COVID-19, coordinated a humanitarian response at an unprecedented scale for tens of thousands of asylum seekers, and faced record breaking storms, heat waves, and floods. NYCEM stands for public service at its best and for New Yorkers at their best. Watch Commanders monitor events across the city in real time and public warning specialists keep New Yorkers in-the-know, while field coordinators manage interagency operations and logisticians move supplies before anyone knows they're needed. Over the past four years, this team has met every challenge with discipline, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to operational excellence."
 
Getting Stuff Done with 24/7 Coordination and Readiness 

Over the past four years, NYCEM’s Watch Command remained fully staffed and operational, maintaining constant coordination with city, state, and federal partners during thousands of emergencies. The agency monitored thousands of incidents and coordinated responses to severe weather, infrastructure disruptions, complex crises, and major planned events, translating readiness into action across the city. 

Since 2022, NYCEM has activated its weather emergency response plans 76 times across flash flood, heat, and winter weather events, spanning 308 operational days. The Flash Flood Plan alone was activated 50 times for 197 days. The Heat Emergency Plan was used 14 times for 68 days as temperatures reached record levels, and the Winter Weather Plan was activated 12 times for 43 days, reflecting sustained readiness across every season. 

During this same period, the agency conducted 84 full scale and functional exercises, including major multi-agency operations that tested command, communications, and logistics under real world conditions. These exercises strengthened coordination and reinforced the city’s ability to manage complex, high impact incidents.
 
Through the NYCEM Academy, the agency trained close to 7,000 individuals across more than 400 instructor-led courses, building capacity among emergency managers, first responders, and community partners citywide. 

The Emergency Operations Center served as the central coordination hub for extended multi agency responses, including the asylum seeker humanitarian operation, extreme storms, major fires, structural collapses, widespread power disruptions, air quality emergencies, drought conditions, and emerging brushfire threats. 

Getting Stuff Done with Alerts That Reach Every Community 

Notify NYC is the city's free emergency alert system, delivering critical warnings through text, email, phone, and social media in 14 languages including American Sign Language. The system responds to flash floods, hazardous air quality, and extreme heat. Under the Adams Administration, NYCEM made Notify NYC more accessible. In July 2024, the agency launched the first citywide multilingual mailer, reaching every residential address in 13 languages with clear enrollment instructions. Following lessons from Hurricane Ida, when many at-risk residents lived in basement apartments, NYCEM created a dedicated basement alert group to provide early flash flood warnings to below-grade units. 

The city also simplified enrollment: residents can now text "NOTIFYNYC" to 692-692 to instantly receive alerts for their ZIP code and citywide emergencies. 

These efforts drove substantial growth. Notify NYC's subscriber base increased from 1,021,963 at the end of 2021 to 1,415,897 as of December 2025, an increase of 393,934 subscribers, or almost 40%. 
 
Staying Focused on Preparedness in Every Community 

NYCEM strengthened citywide preparedness through expanded community programs and multilingual outreach. All hazard guides and safety materials now reach New Yorkers in thirteen languages—from Bengali to Haitian Creole to Urdu—meeting modern accessibility standards to ensure no community is left behind. 

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) grew into one of the nation's most active volunteer networks, delivering 40,859 hours of service between FY 2022 and FY 2025. Hundreds of new volunteers from every borough completed eleven-session training cycles, joining a network that assists professional responders, supports major events, and teaches year-round preparedness. 

The Ready New York program trained more than 136,131 residents since FY 2022, equipping families, seniors, and building managers with evacuation plans, go-bags, and emergency procedures. 

Through the Strengthening Communities initiative, NYCEM transformed neighborhood institutions into emergency planning hubs. The program expanded from nine networks in 2021 to 43 active networks across all five boroughs, with three new cohorts completing intensive training. 

The John D. Solomon Fellowship for Public Service continued building the city's next generation of emergency managers. Each year, twelve graduate fellows serve across city agencies and nonprofits. Since 2012, more than 100 fellows have contributed over 50,000 hours of service, with more than half continuing careers in public service. Under this administration, fellows supported asylum-seeker operations, extreme weather planning, and equity initiatives strengthening community resilience. 

These efforts made preparedness part of daily life across all five boroughs, from students assembling go-bags to business owners posting recovery information, older adults practicing emergency drills, and families receiving alerts in their native languages. Under the Adams Administration, NYCEM demonstrated that equity and preparedness are inseparable, ensuring communities once on the margins are central to the city's readiness. 

Getting Stuff Done Beyond the Five Boroughs 

Throughout the Adams Administration, New York Task Force 1 (NY-TF1), one of 28 elite FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams nationwide, deployed to major disasters across the country. In 2022, NY-TF1 deployed to Florida for Hurricane Ian response and recovery operations following the Category 4 storm with 150 mph winds—one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.
 
In 2023, teams deployed to Vermont for severe flooding, where they rescued three individuals, evacuated 33 people, conducted welfare checks for 61 individuals, and assessed 465 structures. Later that year, NY-TF1 pre-positioned in South Carolina ahead of Hurricane Idalia with six boats and an 18-vehicle convoy. 

In 2024, NY-TF1's largest deployment saw 151 task force members and seven K9s respond to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.  

These FEMA-directed deployments, coordinated by NYCEM, included personnel from FDNY Special Operations, NYPD Emergency Service Unit, and NYCEM staff. NY-TF1's legacy of service, spanning over 30 years, continues to honor the 51 team members who made the ultimate sacrifice on September 11, 2001. 

Four Years of Getting Stuff Done for Every Emergency 

Over four years, NYCEM delivered on every front. The agency grew Notify NYC to 1.4 million subscribers, trained more than 136,000 residents, expanded community networks from nine to 43, and deployed task force members to disasters across the nation. Through extreme weather, humanitarian crises, infrastructure emergencies, and the daily incidents that test any major city, NYCEM stayed operational, coordinated, and relentless. 

This collaboration happened because of people: the executive team and senior staff driving strategy and operations, the Watch Command officers monitoring incidents around the clock, the field coordinators managing complex operations, the public information specialists keeping millions informed, the CERT volunteers serving their neighborhoods, and the community partners who made preparedness accessible in every language and every borough.  

Along with sister agencies across all levels of government, they helped New Yorkers stay focused on preparedness, stay coordinated across every response, and respond fast when emergencies struck. From flash floods to heat waves, from asylum seeker coordination to hurricane deployments, Together, they built an emergency management system that protects lives and strengthens communities before disaster strikes. This is how New York City gets stuff done for every emergency. 

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