NYC prepares for bitter cold following snowfall

AccuWeather

Zachary Iscol, Commissioner of New York City Emergency Management, shares updates on the dangerous cold in New York City.

Transcript

00:00Zachariah Skoll is the commissioner of New York City Emergency Management.

00:04We always like checking in with you, but that means there's something big going on into

00:07the city.

00:08Thanks so much for being with us this morning.

00:11Thank you for having me.

00:12It's always great being with you guys and thanks for the work you do keeping people

00:14abreast of the weather.

00:15No, it's always our pleasure and thank you for the work you do and your hands are full,

00:19Commissioner.

00:20After yesterday's snowfall, it wasn't a whole lot in New York City, but it was enough.

00:25How was the commute across the city here today?

00:29Yeah, so no real issues with the commute this morning.

00:32You know, our sanitation department yesterday did a fantastic job of brining the roads.

00:37They were ready to plow, but we didn't reach plowable depths, which is two inches of snow.

00:42We were, you know, really around one inch in most of the city.

00:46So not really a lot of challenges there, but going forward throughout this week, the thing

00:49that we are most concerned about is really just the cold weather, especially the overnight

00:54temperatures and how that could impact vulnerable populations here in New York City.

00:58Yeah, that's what we want to touch on next here is temperatures falling to the teens

01:01and 20s, even high temperatures are barely getting to the 30s tomorrow.

01:04So are there any kind of preparations in place for the vulnerable populations around the

01:08city?

01:09Yeah, absolutely.

01:11So we have a network of about three to four thousand different organizations that serve

01:17vulnerable populations, people with disabilities, functional needs, older adults.

01:21We check in with them, make sure that their facilities, that their organizations are operating,

01:26that they're getting important messaging out to their communities and their constituents.

01:31We also our partners over at Department of Social Services and Department of Homeless

01:34Services.

01:35They do tremendous work during these during these low temperatures where we issue something

01:40called a code blue, where we have additional outreach teams going to get homeless New Yorkers

01:45off the streets and into shelter.

01:48We open up shelters to all New Yorkers who need it.

01:51We're doing a lot of work monitoring infrastructure with our infrastructure partners and then doing

01:55a lot of things to educate New Yorkers about the things they need to do to keep themselves

01:59and their loved ones safe during these cold, colder temperatures.

02:04Now looking ahead, there could be some more snow later this week.

02:08What steps go into planning for snow emergency readiness?

02:12Yeah, it's a great question.

02:15So as we start to see systems develop, we could have some precipitation coming in this

02:19weekend.

02:21We start working with our partners at the National Weather Service, with our meteorological

02:25team here at New York City Emergency Management and some of our weather vendors to monitor

02:29the forecast.

02:30We'd start then spinning up the interagency process, working with all of our agency partners,

02:36like Sanitation, PD, FDNY, some of the social service partners in the city, our utility

02:43partners in the city, our transportation partners in the city, MTA, Department of Transportation.

02:49Once we have a better sense of the forecast in terms of what steps we need to do to keep

02:53roadways open, making sure people are able to move around the city, making sure we're

02:57getting messaging out to the public, making sure that infrastructure is protected, and

03:01then making sure we're taking care of those vulnerable populations.

03:04Well, you just mentioned messaging.

03:06So any kind of final messages for visitors and residents during the next couple of days

03:10with the cold and possibly additional snow?

03:12Yeah.

03:13Great question.

03:14So number one, bundled up, stay warm.

03:16If you have a, you know, somebody in your life who's a vulnerable New Yorker, please

03:20check in on them, make sure that they're doing well.

03:22If you have any heat, hot water complaints, you can call 3-1-1.

03:26Any emergency issues, always call 9-1-1.

03:29We encourage everybody to sign up for NotifyNYC.

03:32This is our city's public notification system, over a million and a half subscribers available

03:36in 14 languages, including American Sign Language.

03:39And then if you see a vulnerable New Yorker, if you see somebody who needs help, somebody

03:42who's homeless at night, please call 3-1-1 so we can get an outreach team out there to

03:47help them.

03:48Zachary Iskell, Commissioner of New York City Emergency Management.

03:52Thank you for joining us on AccuWeather Early.

03:54Always great information, and you're one of our more favorite guests that gives us the

03:58information you're hiding.

03:59Oh, stop.

04:00I love to hear it.

04:01Wow.

04:02Yeah.

04:03Wow.

04:04I love to hear it.

04:05Love it.

04:06Well, thank you so much, and I really appreciate the work you guys do, too, as well.

04:07Oh, my gosh.

04:08All right.

04:09Thank you, sir.

04:10You enjoy the rest of your day, and of course, stay warm.

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