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