Comptroller Lander Investigation Finds City Must Bolster Key Emergency Response Infrastructure & Communications Before Next Major Storm

 

While City agencies began to improve monitoring & community engagement after Hurricane Ida, Tropical Storm Ophelia revealed major gaps in preparedness and response

Comptroller’s findings include: 2/3 of City’s catch basin cleaning trucks were out of service when the storm hit; only 2.7% of New Yorkers 16+ received NotifyNYC alerts; the Mayor had yet to appoint an Extreme Weather Coordinator

Seven months after Tropical Storm Ophelia inundated New York City with over eight inches of rain, Comptroller Brad Lander released findings of his office’s investigation into the City’s handling of the storm, along with key recommendations for New York City agencies to better prepare for extreme weather and flooding conditions. The investigation, Is New York City Ready for Rain?, analyzed the City’s storm operations, interagency coordination, emergency communications to the public, community preparedness, and storm water infrastructure improvements.  

“Extreme storms are coming more frequently, so New York City must do the work to be more prepared for them,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “That means modernizing our catch basins, making sure the cleaning trucks are in service, and notifying New Yorkers—especially the most vulnerable—more swiftly before the next storm hits. And it means focusing capital process reforms and leadership attention on stormwater infrastructure improvements, so those projects don’t languish for decades while the climate crisis moves faster than we do.”   

“New York City’s state of preparedness is only as good as its physical and social infrastructure. Sadly, the woefully low number of NotifyNYC subscribers, out-of-order catch basin cleaning trucks, and emergency sewer repairs indicate that we’re already behind the tide of the next extreme rainfall event. New Yorkers will be safer if we’re able to better manage and communicate how the City is handling weather emergencies,” said Louise Yeung, Chief Climate Officer for the New York City Comptroller. 

On September 29, 2023, New York City experienced 8.65 inches of total rainfall as a result of the storm—at its peak, exceeding 3 inches per hour in parts of Brooklyn. The heaviest rains persisted for over an hour in southern Brooklyn and along the East River from DUMBO, through the Lower East Side, up through Astoria and East Harlem. Real-time sensors—many of which had been added by NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in recent years as part of its storm preparation—recorded more than 24 inches of flooding in Gowanus, south Williamsburg, and Midland Beach, while parts of Southern Queens and coastal Staten Island saw significant flooding despite not receiving intense rainfall, pointing to the inadequacy of existing stormwater infrastructure.  

The Fire Department rescued 11 people, including four from basement units. Mercifully, no New Yorkers were killed by this storm, unlike Hurricane Ida, in which 13 New Yorkers died. Woodhull Hospital had to be fully evacuated after flooding required disconnecting the electricity. Flooding occurred at 45 subway stations and eight yards; the MTA suspended or saw severe disruptions to 11 subway lines, Metro-North services, and parts of the LIRR Far Rockaway and Long Island Branch lines while NYC Transit pumped four million gallons of water out of the subway system. The Major Deegan Expressway, FDR Drive, Grand Central Parkway, Belt Parkway, and 4th Ave in Brooklyn were shut down; flooded portions of the Cross Island Parkway caused vehicles to be stuck, and the overflow Bronx River flooded the Bronx River Parkway until 6:30 am the following morning. 

In the wake of Hurricane Ida in 2021, the City enacted three plans for extreme rainfall events: The New Normal, Rainfall Ready, and Ida Action Plan. These plans detail the City’s commitments to improve communications, operations, planning, and infrastructure to manage heavy rain. Comptroller Lander’s investigation probed how well the City implemented these commitments in its preparation for and response to Ophelia.  

The investigation comes as a new survey from Citizens Budget Commission shows plummeting confidence in how the City prepares for an emergency. Comptroller Lander investigation’s key findings include: 

Storm Operations  

• Nearly two-thirds of the City’s catch basin cleaning trucks were out of service during the storm, leaving only 19 trucks to clean catch basins across all five boroughs. Catch basin cleaning is one of the City’s best tools to prevent localized flooding before heavy rains, yet DEP only had 19-out-of-51 trucks— which DEP operates but DSNY maintains—available to clean priority catch basins across the city at the time of the storm. 

Interagency Storm Coordination  

• Mayor Adams had not appointed an Extreme Weather Coordinator when Tropical Storm Ophelia hit more than 18 months into his term. Six months later, in March 2024, City Hall informed the Comptroller’s office that this role has been assigned to Camille Joseph Varlack, Chief of Staff to the Mayor. 

Emergency Communications to the Public  

• Broad and high-profile public communications only picked up after flash flooding already began to impact commutes, homes, and critical facilities. The Mayor’s first press conference occurred on September 29 at 11:40 am, nearly three hours after heavy rains and flooding began. NYCHA’s robocalls occurred at 4:45 pm, 9 hours after the flooding was well underway. NYC Public Schools first posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) at 12:35 pm and only updated its website with guidance on school dismissal and after-school activities at 2:30 pm when many schools already dismissed students.
• Only 2.7% of New Yorkers over 16 years old received NotifyNYC emergency alerts for the flash flooding on September 29. NotifyNYC is the City’s primary way to broadcast emergency notifications but is an opt-in service and the vast majority of New Yorkers have not enrolled.
• New York City Emergency Management’s (NYCEM) new basement notification list only includes 2,378 subscribers, less than 1% of the estimated number of basement residents in NYC. People who live in basement apartments are especially vulnerable to flash floods and especially hard-to-reach because many speak languages other than English and their basement apartments are not formally permitted.  

Stormwater Infrastructure Improvements  

• DEP can install new catch basin designs that would reduce the time and labor to clean catch basins, for a modest $22.5 million. Catch basin inspections and cleanings before and during a storm requires substantial lead time and labor. DEP has identified new modern street grate designs that, if installed at key locations, would reduce clogging from trash and debris and thereby reducing the labor and time needed to clean catch basins.
• More than 60% of the City’s stormwater infrastructure projects are behind schedule, with an average delay of nearly two years, and 69% of projects are over-budget, with an average budget overrun of 310%.
• DEP’s 10-year capital plan includes $875 million for emergency reconstruction of sewers across 66 projects—more than 8% of DEP’s capital budget. While DEP prudently budgets for emergency repairs, this level of emergency sewer repairs indicates the sewer system is far from a state of good repair.

The Comptroller’s review also noted positive storm preparedness steps that the City took in advance of Tropical Storm Ophelia:

• The City began monitoring Tropical Storm Ophelia a week in advance, and NYCEM proactively activated the emergency flash flood plan at 8:30 am the day before. Once activated, NYCEM initiated coordination calls with key operational and first responder agencies.
• DEP incorporated many new data sources to identify where flooding is happening in real-time and to inform priority catch basin inspections and cleaning with flood sensor data, 311 flooding complaints, field reports from other agencies, video feed from DOT’s live traffic cameras, and social media posts to paint a more comprehensive picture of flooding issues. 

• For the first time, NYCEM paid community networks, who are more effective at connecting with hard-to-reach New Yorkers, to amplify emergency notifications. NYCEM funded 20 partners in its Strengthening Communities Program on average $3,915 to share emergency alerts with their networks. In total, this effort resulted in over 800 phone calls, 169 emails to 58,625 recipients, and 381 text messages to 13,216 recipients. However, NYCEM activated these community groups at 10 am, after heavy rains began.  
• DEP held flood preparedness events to distribute 4,000 flood barriers, 7,500 rain barrels, 500 sump pumps, and 500 flood sensors in flood-prone neighborhoods. The City also partially restarted FloodHelpNY, a program intended to provide education, resiliency audits, financial counseling, and retrofit assistance for homeowners after a storm.

The Comptroller’s Office made 11 recommendations as a result of its investigation: 

1. The City should expand emergency communications beyond the limited number of New Yorkers who currently receive NotifyNYC and communicate flood risks to the public earlier.
2. NYCEM should expand Strengthening Communities to reach more diverse at-risk New Yorkers.
3. NYCEM should establish baseline funding for annual emergency activations of community networks.
4. NYCEM should formalize the role of community-led emergency canvassing into City’s emergency protocols.
5. DEP should replace its aging catch basin cleaning trucks and take over maintenance of its catch basin cleaning truck fleet from DSNY and establish new protocols to ensure that trucks are well-maintained to be deployed whenever a storm hits.
6. DEP should be funded to retrofit catch basin across the city with new modern designs that reduce clogging.
7. MTA, DOT, and DEP should dramatically expand subway flood protection improvements.
8. DEP should improve stormwater infrastructure assessments to maintain a state of good repair.
9. The State legislature should greenlight capital process reforms proposed by the Adams Administration to pick up the pace of completing stormwater projects, including state legislation to authorize New York City the ability to utilize proven alternative delivery methods for its infrastructure projects.
10. The Adams Administration should improve the City’s Capital Project Dashboard and use it as a tool to better manage stormwater capital project delivery. 
11. The City should develop a shared interagency tracking and data sharing tool to better coordinate storm operations.  

“As Tropical Storm Ophelia reminded us, low-income communities of color across New York City are on the frontlines of climate disasters—often seeing their homes, subways, and streets inundated by extreme rain,” said Eddie Bautista, Executive Director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. “As this investigation demonstrated, environmental justice communities are often the last to be informed of an oncoming emergency. The City must bolster the safety and resiliency of frontline communities as climate change-fueled storms continue to intensify.” 

“The flash floods last fall remind us of the growing risks that basement residents face from climate change,” said Annetta Seecharran, Executive Director of Chhaya Community Development Corporation. “The Comptroller’s investigation shows us just how little progress the City has made to reach basement residents in these emergencies, leaving New Yorkers to fend for themselves. At a time when climate change is threatening affordable housing across the city, we need better protections for New Yorkers now so that no more lives or homes are washed away.” 

View the report Is New York City Ready for Rain? here.