Winter weather alert issued in NYC as extreme cold looms

AccuWeather

New York City officials brace for extreme cold and icy conditions as road crews continue to keep the streets clear. Commissioner Zachary Iscol shares how the city is preparing for a frigid week ahead.

Transcript

00:00New York City still under a winter weather alert through today. What are your priorities during this alert?

00:05Yeah, so first off last night the bills got it done, but also our sanitation department got it done

00:11They did really great work plowing the streets salting every single road in the city, but we're still urging New Yorkers to

00:18To show some caution. We're looking for New Yorkers to help us with clearing sidewalks

00:23You know last night

00:24I got home very late after visiting a lot of the crews that were out and about

00:27First thing I did was grab a bag of salt and grab a shovel to clear the sidewalk in front of our building

00:32Asking New Yorkers to do the same

00:33We are concerned about icy conditions today and through this week with the cold weather and then now we're also shifting gears to start to

00:40Focus on that extreme cold weather that's coming into the city working with our utilities

00:43Working to make sure we're taking care of vulnerable populations working with our Department of Social Services to care for homeless

00:50New Yorkers, so a lot of work going into this week now as we get out of the snow

00:54Yeah, and those dangerous temperatures are gonna remain low into the low teens the next couple of days

00:58So could you go in depth a little bit more about how exactly the city will be helping helping those vulnerable populations during the cold spell?

01:06Yeah, so we do two primary things. We start working days in advance monitoring the forecast with the National Weather Service

01:12Really huge credit to you guys too for the work

01:14You do keeping people informed of the dangers and the low temps then we have we issue something called a code blue

01:20Which means we have additional outreach teams going around

01:23Bringing in homeless New Yorkers into warm shelters

01:26If you see somebody who needs help you can call 3-1-1 if it's an emergency call 9-1-1

01:31Then there's also a lot of work we do with our partners that handle the utilities or water or sewage

01:37To make sure that New Yorkers have heat hot water electricity steam

01:42Making sure that if we do lose

01:44Any of those utilities that we're responding immediately

01:48We have additional crews on standby that were able to address any impacts to critical care facilities nursing homes

01:54So a lot of work that goes into protecting our infrastructure and taking care of our most vulnerable this week

02:00Yeah, we've heard it from you that there's always a lot of cooperation among New York City agencies

02:04So, how do you coordinate and adjust the response as weather conditions change?

02:08Yeah, so we start days in advance start working with the National Weather Service

02:11We actually have an interagency call almost every single day

02:14We get the briefing and then we talk to every single one of the agencies looking at sort of what are the operational goals?

02:20What are the objectives for the week based on the forecast? What did the different agencies need? How are we responding?

02:27Do they have the right resources that they need to address things?

02:30and then a big part of this is also communicating to the public making sure the public is aware of the dangers making sure the

02:35Public is aware of the steps that they can take whether it's calling 3-1-1 to repeat

02:39The loss of heat or hot water in their building whether it's calling 9-1-1 for an emergency

02:45Whether it's calling 3-1-1 again to report somebody who's on the street who needs help

02:49So making sure New Yorkers are also aware that while the city is doing a lot

02:53There's a lot they can do to help out as well

02:55All right

02:56And with about 40 seconds left to go at the extreme cold between now and Wednesday

02:59What do you want people to remember about how serious these temperatures can be?

03:03These are serious. So bundled up help us out with looking for our most vulnerable

03:09Those are the two big things and if there's any issues, please report them to us that we can address them

03:14We appreciate you being with us Commissioner Iskall again out of New York City. Thanks again for your updates and keeping everyone safe

03:21Wonderful to be with you. Thanks so much

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