Mayor Zohran Mamdani has activated a heat emergency plan, launching a coordinated, proactive interagency response across all five boroughs to prepare New Yorkers for historically high heat indices that will begin Wednesday.
Under the plan, the city says it is taking expansive action to activate hundreds of cooling centers and cool options, intensify outreach and support to vulnerable New Yorkers such as the homeless and older adults and ready New Yorkers for the heat.
The plan includes the following initiatives:
Cooling Outreach On-Location (COOL) vans, operated by NYC Health + Hospitals, will provide mobile cooling resources directed to our most vulnerable New Yorkers. The vans provide wellness checks, medical care, water and other supplies such as electrolytes and sunscreen, as well as transport to cooling centers or healthcare facilities. COOL vans will also be dispatched to perform in-home wellness checks on older adults. More than a dozen vans will be operational Wednesday.The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) will operate Health Action Centers and Overdose Prevention Centers as cooling centers.DOHMH will expand pop-up cooling stations through partnerships with community-based organizations with cold water, misting fans and cooling towels for outdoor workers including street vendors, deliveristas and day laborers working in the heat.More than 2,200LinkNYCKiosks will display real-time walking directions to the nearest cooling center - a new initiative created by the Mamdani administration.The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) will message all of its licensees - about 45,000 businesses across 45 different business categories- encouraging heat illness plans, warning about the dangers of extreme heat and signs of heat exhaustion and reminding employees that they can use Protected Time Off for heat-related emergencies."We're staring down what could be the second hottest day in New York City history in over a decade - and City government is taking historic measures to keep all New Yorkers indoors, cool and safe," said Mayor Mamdani.
The mayor is encouraging New Yorkers to sign up for Notify NYC by texting NOTIFYNYC to 692-692 so you can stay up to date with the latest weather and information.
You can also find more information on New York City Emergency Management's website.
