New York City officials brace for looming winter storm

AccuWeather

Zachary Iscol of the New York City Emergency Management shares with AccuWeather the steps officials are taking in preparation for the major winter storm closing in on the city.

Transcript

00:00 We're joined by Zachary Iskal. He's the commissioner of New York City Emergency Management.

00:05 Mr. Iskal, thank you so much for joining us. But, Commissioner, what is the latest now

00:12 and how are your teams preparing for what's coming tonight?

00:16 Yeah, so first off, the team has been doing incredible work, you know, first off with the

00:23 winter weather that we had coming in over the weekend through the weather that we're expecting

00:28 tonight. So we always start preparing for these events days in advance. We do close coordination

00:33 with the National Weather Service looking at the forecast. And for tonight, the primary concerns

00:38 are coastal flooding in and around Jamaica Bay, high winds, which, you know, the big concern with

00:42 high winds are things like downed power lines. So we've been in very close contact with Con Ed,

00:47 PSC&G, the utility companies. They're pre-staging crews around the city so they can quickly address

00:53 any of those issues. And then, of course, the rainfall as well. So the National Weather Service

00:57 has us under watches for both flooding tonight as well as the high winds. And we've got amazing

01:03 crews from the city that we're working with, not only, you know, DEP, transportation, going out,

01:09 clearing catch basins, making sure the water can run off the streets effectively, utility companies,

01:14 as I mentioned, but also first responders, right? Our fire department, NYPD, staging high axle

01:19 vehicles around the city. So if there are life safety events, we can quickly respond and get

01:24 to people in need. Of course, you have to make take one at a time, sir. We understand that. But

01:29 there is potentially, and I think a reality that there's going to be another rain event

01:35 with even a little bit of snow, but mostly another rain event for the city.

01:40 If that happens, is the city going to be ready for this?

01:44 We are always ready. You know, as I said, we start working days in advance.

01:50 We've got amazing men and women who work for the city, and I could not be more grateful for the

01:54 work that they do. They're out there in the inclement weather, making sure that the sewer

01:59 lines are working. They're out there making sure that we're getting power to people who need it.

02:03 They're out there taking care of our city's most vulnerable. You know, we put things like code

02:07 blues in effect to get the homeless population off the street and into shelter. So we're always

02:13 looking forward. We're always planning, always coordinating, and always making sure the city's

02:17 prepared. What I will add, though, is while the city's preparing, it's also really important that

02:21 New Yorkers prepare. So for this event tonight, for example, we're looking at the heaviest

02:26 weather really coming in between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. But that could shift to the left or the right.

02:32 And if it does shift, that could impact the commuting times. So really important that

02:36 people are keeping themselves informed, following things like AccuWeather to make sure that they're

02:41 monitoring the forecast. And also I encourage all New Yorkers to sign up for NotifyNYC.

02:46 It's our city's public notification system. It's available in 14 languages, 1.1 million subscribers.

02:52 You can sign up at nyc.gov/notify by downloading the app or even just by calling 311.

02:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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