Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you, Fabien, and the entire team, and New Yorkers for understanding how this rain conditions that we are experiencing is something that we cannot take lightly and we have not taken lightly. This morning, I was out visiting East New York, Flatbush, Canarsie and Sheepshead Bay to get a firsthand look at the impact of the rainfall and what it is doing to moving around the city.
I spoke with Governor Hochul who's here with us today. I want to thank you, governor, for once again responding immediately seeking out whatever help we need as a city, and I really appreciate communicating with you this morning.
I am issuing a State of Emergency for New York City based on the weather conditions and I want to say to all New Yorkers this is time for heightened alertness and extreme caution. If you're at home, stay home. If you are at work or school, shelter in place for now. Some of our subways are flooded and it's extremely difficult to move around the city.
Many of our area airports are experiencing delays, and if you are out and encounter a flooded area be it on a roadway or a subway station, do not enter. Take necessary precautions. This is a dangerous weather condition and it is not over. And I don't want those gaps and heavy rain to give the appearance that it is over, it is not. We could possibly see eight inches of rain before the day is over.
Our city has already taken action to protect all New Yorkers including rescuing those in need of help. There was an issue on the Belt Parkway by the Ocean Parkway exit. Those are the types of roadway conditions we're asking New Yorkers to avoid.
Every single one of our agencies has an emergency plan and we are executing those plans. We're ready, and you should be as well, to be prepared for this moment. Commissioner Iscol from New York City Emergency Management will provide more detailed updates to us on the situation throughout the city.
This is the time for caution, but is also a time for community. Check on neighbors, do what whatever is possible to unclog the drain areas to allow the water to flow freely. You would be surprised how if we remove leaves and other trash from those areas it will really assist in getting the water off our streets.
Check on your friends and relatives, and especially those who are most vulnerable such as the elderly and individuals with health conditions. If the conditions are safe, take time, as I indicated, to clean out the debris from your drains, particularly in between the heavy rainfall.
And for the most accurate and timely updates, sign up for NotifyNYC. This is a moment to remind everyone of how important NotifyNYC is. Those alerts go a long way to keep you ahead of what is happening. You could dial 311 or visit nyc.gov/notify to subscribe. That's nyc.gov/notify to subscribe, and you could also call 311.
Being informed is the first step toward ensuring the well being of you and your family and your fellow New Yorkers. And again, I want to thank the entire team for their quick response and understanding that this is an extreme emergency, extreme emergency condition that we must be prepared for.
I want to turn it over to Governor Hochul. Governor, again, thanks so much. It was good talking to you this morning, and your quick response to what is happening in our city, I really appreciate it.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul: Well, thank you, mayor; and once again, I commend your leadership. And the coordination between our team and our team at the state level, it is seamless. And the bottom line is we're here to help New Yorkers get through what is a life threatening rainfall event.
And I agree with you that people should be able to stay home if possible but I know right now there's a lot of anxious parents wondering if they're going to be able to get their children home from schools.
And I'm working very closely with Janno Lieber who will give updates from the MTA, but our priority once the immediate...in the immediate aftermath of this first wave of the storm — and again, it could come back again, it could reemerge later again this afternoon — we want to make sure we get the subways, the trains, our communication system, our transportation system up working, because there's children who use the subways to get home from school. People need to be able to now if they can get home from work. And so that is priority number one, to make sure that our subways and our rail systems are safe.
There has been significant disruptions, without a doubt, particularly heading north. I just spoke to the County Executive George Latimer of Westchester County. The epicenter has shifted from the city regions very much so from Brooklyn and Queens and Manhattan where I spoke to the borough presidents to offer our assistance, in the Bronx, but is now heading north into the Hudson Valley. So, we're also coordinating with those localities as well as Nassau County.
I will say this. If people decide to venture out in a vehicle, they do so at their own peril, because even six inches of rain, one foot of rain, it may look pretty innocuous, it's safe, but that is a condition where your vehicle can be swept away. And we lose more lives of people during flooding events — of which we've had many, especially this summer in the city and the Hudson Valley in particular.
The reason we lose our lives in a flood event more often than not is they're swept away in their vehicle. So, this is a choice people make. We encourage them not to decide to do that. Please stay home, be safe. We are deploying more buses. We have more bus operators to be able to create options if we don't get the subways back on schedule.
The airports, right now Terminal A at LaGuardia is closed because of flooding at a fuel field right now. We've brought in more resources from JFK to assist with that as well. The flights are going in and out of the airports but they are delayed, and so people should check on the websites for that as well.
Now, also we're trying to be as helpful as we can, and City Mayor, you've been fantastic, and we've deployed National Guard, we've deployed more pumps from our surplus to help you assist. And everyone remembers what happened, I was literally governor one week when Hurricane Ida hit and we walked those streets of Queens and many parts of the city, and people literally drowned in their basement homes.
And so people also need to not get in vehicles, but leave your home if you're starting to see water accumulate. Don't wait until it's up to your knees or higher. By then, it could be a barrier to getting able to have access safely out the door, as we saw before. And so people really need to be taking this extremely seriously.
The state is there to help, and we'll get through this together as we always do. So, thank you, mayor for your coordination, your outreach. I look forward to continue to work as we get through this event united as one.
No comments:
Post a Comment