Mayor Eric Adams announces new measures to prepare for extreme weather in NYC
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- New York City Mayor Eric Adams and city officials announced a proactive safety plan to keep residents stay safe from extreme summer weather on Thursday.
When it rains it pours in New York City and with hurricane season on the horizon, the city is taking steps to avoid flooded neighborhoods and transit systems.
Canadian wildfires turned the skies over Manhattan orange last June. While it looked pretty, the quality of the air led to dangerous conditions for some.
Also, last year was the hottest summer on record but there's a chance this year could top it.
"This year we have expanded the number of cooling centers across the city," Adams said. "We have updated our air quality emergency guidelines with new technology and monitoring, greater outreach to vulnerable populations, and more protections to critical infrastructures such as public transportation and hospitals."
Each summer, an estimated 350 New Yorkers die prematurely due to heat and more Americans die from heat waves in a year than all other natural disasters combined, city officials said.
The city is trying to make it easier for New Yorkers to find cooling havens by updating it's 24/7 Cool Options map, increasing cooling center partners, providing pet-friendly cooling centers, offering Cool Kits for vulnerable populations, distributing indoor thermometers and increasing heat preparedness messaging.
"Summer means more extreme weather - from rains that dump more water than our sewers were built for, to extreme heat, and, increasingly, smoke," said Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi. "This puts our city in the crosshairs of climate change, but we are getting ahead of it - with more cooling centers, free air conditioners, and cooling kits for New Yorkers. We're also planting trees and investing in infrastructural improvements to manage these changes. We will not leave a single tool on the table to keep New Yorkers safe."
The mayor said additional safety tips are available on the city's website.
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