Upcoming Events, Legislative News, Grant Opportunities, & More
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Friday, October 6, 2023
Bronx Chamber of Commerce - Bronx Business News You Can Use
NYC WEATHER ALERT: NEW YORKERS STRONGLY URGED TO TAKE SAFETY MEASURES IN PREPARATION FOR PERIODS OF HEAVY RAINFALL, FLASH FLOODING TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
NYC WEATHER ALERT: NEW YORKERS STRONGLY URGED TO TAKE SAFETY MEASURES IN PREPARATION FOR PERIODS OF HEAVY RAINFALL, FLASH FLOODING TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
Periods of Moderate to Heavy Rain May Produce Locally Significant Impacts on Travel, Transportation, and Infrastructure Late Friday Night into Saturday
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM) Commissioner Zach Iscol today advised New Yorkers to take safety measures in anticipation of heavy rainfall and flash flooding, beginning late Friday night and continuing into Saturday.
“New York City does not wait for a storm to prepare — we are already several steps ahead,” said Mayor Adams. “Our emergency management teams, first responders, and key city agencies are fully activated and tightly coordinated to face the coming rains head-on. I urge every New Yorker — especially those in areas more susceptible to flooding — to stay alert by signing up for Notify NYC now.”
“We have activated the Flash Flood Emergency Plan in anticipation of heavy rainfall as we head into the weekend,” said NYCEM Commissioner Iscol. “Our primary concern is a six-hour period of moderate to heavy rain late Friday night through early Saturday afternoon. While widespread, major impacts are not expected, I want to stress the vital need for all New Yorkers, especially those in low-lying and flood-prone areas, including below-grade living spaces, to take precautions, sign up for emergency notifications via Notify NYC, pay attention to changes in the forecast, and heed official guidance to keep yourselves and your loved ones safe.”
The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch citywide, effective Saturday from 2:00 AM until 8:00 PM. Moderate to heavy showers and thunderstorms are forecast to begin late Friday night through Saturday afternoon, with a few inches of rain expected over a roughly six-hour period. Locally, upwards of four inches of rainfall is possible.
Where the heaviest rainfall rates develop, flooding could be locally significant — causing disruption to transportation; flooding of basements, first-floor residences and businesses, and underground infrastructure; and posing an elevated threat to life. Low-lying, poor drainage and frequent flood locations may be especially vulnerable. Widespread, major impacts are not expected.
Lingering showers may continue into early Saturday evening, with dry conditions expected by Saturday night. Breezy winds develop Saturday afternoon, with a few gusts likely Sunday. Temperatures will cool into the upper 40s by Monday morning.
Safety Tips
- Allow for extra travel time. New Yorkers are urged to use public transportation.
- If you must drive, drive slowly. Use major streets or highways for travel whenever possible.
- If you live in a basement apartment in a flood-prone area, prepare to move to a place higher than the flood waters if experiencing rising waters and/or if you receive a warning from Notify NYC or the National Weather Service.
- Do not drive into flooded streets or enter flooded subway stations.
- Six inches of moving water can knock over an adult. Avoid stepping in floodwater if you see it.
- Check on friends, relatives, and neighbors, especially older adults as well as people with disabilities, access and functional needs, or health conditions. Help them to prepare if needed.
- Stay informed. Before and during an emergency, the city will send emergency alerts and updates to New Yorkers through various channels, including Notify NYC. Sign up for emergency notifications on the Notify NYC website at gov/NotifyNYC or call 311. You can also follow @NotifyNYC on social media.
- New Yorkers should follow the National Weather Service forecast and guidance listed in watches, warnings, and advisories on the National Weather Service website.
New York City Emergency Management, in coordination with partners and other city agencies, has activated the comprehensive Flash Flood Emergency Plan and is actively collaborating with the National Weather Service to monitor conditions. As part of this proactive approach, crews from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, New York City Department of Sanitation, and New York City Department of Transportation are already on the ground, inspecting and clearing catch basins in neighborhoods and thoroughfares that are particularly susceptible to flooding. Multiple city agencies have been convened on a Flash Flood Emergency Plan Steering Committee as integral components and are not only preparing in advance but also poised to respond swiftly and effectively to emergent situations.
Additional safety tips are available online at NYC.gov/SevereWeather. New Yorkers are also encouraged to sign up for Notify NYC, the city’s free emergency notification system, to stay informed about the latest weather updates and other emergencies. Notify NYC is available in 14 languages, including American Sign Language. To learn more about the Notify NYC program or to sign up, visit NYC.gov/NotifyNYC, call 311, or download the free Notify NYC app for your Android or Apple device. You can also follow @NotifyNYC or @nycemergencymgt on social media.
Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson - Italian Heritage Month Event
Dear Neighbor,
Join us for an evening of celebration during our annual Italian Heritage Month Celebration on Thursday, October 12th at 5:30PM at Schiff Family Great Hall at The Bronx Zoo.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our office at 718-590-3500 or email us at webmail@bronxbp.nyc.gov.
In partnership,
Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson
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MAYOR ADAMS HOLDS VIRTUAL BRIEFING
Mayor Eric Adams: Good morning. Thanks all for joining. As we promised, we wanted to keep you continuously updated as we move towards this journey. I'm joined this morning with Commissioner Ed Mermelstein and Commission Castro. Commissioner Mermelstein is from International Affairs and Commissioner Castro, as you know, is the commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs.
And before we begin, I want to update you on the emerging weather conditions in New York City. Our team, they have been meeting and coordinating to make sure that we are prepared, as always, for any form of storm that hits the city.
We're expecting periods of potentially heavy rain late tonight and into tomorrow. Our team is monitoring the situation, preparing, prepositioning city resources, and we'll be briefing the media later today. First Deputy Mayor Wright and Commissioner Iscol will be leading that communication. Please stay tuned for further information.
Today, we are in Ecuador. We landed early this morning. And I really want to thank both commissioners for joining me on this trip and navigating to make sure that we can maximize our time on the ground.
And I want to thank everyone here in Ecuador for their warm welcome and hospitality and really ensuring is that we can meet as many people as possible to get a firsthand knowledge of what is taking place around the asylum seeker and migrant crisis that we are facing, and the entire Ecuadorian Ministry for their compassion and care that they are showing as we all work to manage the flow of asylum seekers and migrants throughout this region.
As I have said before, this is a fact finding trip and a trip where we want to communicate with the public in these various cities and states that we are visiting...and countries, I should say. And the genuine empathy for those who are trying to escape violence, poverty and instability is what we're learning when we speak with them, each time we walk into a shelter or interact with men and women who are working there.
People want to help. The volunteers, employees and some of the institutions and agencies remind me of the days when the Salvation Army was helping my family, I shared with them. You see the same level of commitment and dedication from the workers who are here. These want to help people, want to help on all levels: business leaders to the elected officials all want to see how do we address this humanitarian crisis.
And I think about Sister Magda who we met in Mexico that I talked about, working with migrants every day, and people here in Ecuador like those working at the two migrant centers we visited this morning. We saw how much they care. We visited the Jesuit Refugee Center, we talked to people who are helping, and we met with individuals who have made the dangerous journey here from Colombia and Venezuela. And it's clear that they are stretched thin and they need more support and assistance.
Now, think about the mothers who made the trip carrying babies just a few months ago and speaking with some of them. Migrants like Angie Sanchez who have been through unimaginable hardship. Her husband was injured in a guerrilla conflict in Colombia. He struggles to walk now. But Angie, like so many other migrants, is doing everything she can to provide for her family. Her story was extremely impactful and extremely emotional for all of us who heard it.
We talked with migrants about the extreme poverty they are leaving behind, and I felt their determination to seek better lives for themselves and their children. So many people we have talked to here in New York City are dedicated to solving the global asylum seeker crisis so that people like Angie can have a better future.
But in order to help, it must be honesty, and that is extremely important to us, to be honest. We must be clear about what is happening here and how it connects to what is happening in our city and in our country. We must be honest about the reality of making the dangerous journey to the United States.
We need to stop the flow of misinformation. We are hearing that over and over again from the migrants and asylum seekers, the misinformation. We are learning about Ecuadorian asylum seekers who came to America only to realize that they've been sold the lie they will be able to work immediately. As a result, we learned during this trip many are now asking to come back home.
We want to make sure that people come to New York City know what to expect, and they have the opportunity for a safe and dignified migration, one that can lead to the American dream; as I say over and over again, not to an American nightmare. We want every single person who is thinking about risking their lives and their children's lives to come to New York City to know the truth about what we are dealing with.
We all want to help as many people as possible. As we have stated in this administration: our hearts are full and endless, but our resources are not. We want to uphold our values as a city of immigrants, but to do that, we need to stabilize this situation and we need work across international borders to manage it in a way that protects all of us including established New Yorkers who need services and new arrivals who need support. Right now we are in danger of not being able to provide that.
Today we saw the reality on the ground, the reality of the lives of young people and families from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador who have fled. We cannot just sit back and watch things play out. Ignoring the problem is not going to fix the problem. We need to take actions on issues like economic inequality, climate resiliency and the asylum seeker situation, not in the future but right now.
That is why I'm here. We need real solutions to solve these real problems, and it starts here with talking to people who are most deeply affected by it. Those solutions are going to come from all of us working together, just as the people of Ecuador and the U.S. want to do. I am hopeful that it is the start of a real international collaboration on a local level with our mayors, our governors and our national leaders.
We look forward to traveling to Colombia and the Darién Gap tomorrow to talk with more people about the reality of what has happened here and in New York City.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - TONIGHT: Virtual Town Hall at 5:30PM
Sign Up: Virtual Town Hall on Friday, October 6
Tonight October 6, 2023 at 5:30 pm ET, the Congresswoman will be holding her monthly town hall virtually. She will take questions from her constituents.
We’ll also be streaming our town hall live on Facebook, YouTube, and X.
Spanish interpretation will be available. CART open captions will also be available: https://bc.typewell.com/
To send a question ahead of time, please email aoc.townhall@mail.house.gov or call 718-662-5970 with your name, neighborhood and question.