 Okay, well Thank you everyone for being here My name is Lorraine Grillo. I am the first deputy mayor and I'm here with my colleagues Including Sheena Wright for deputy mayor for strategic initiatives Chancellor David Banks Deputy mayor Phil Banks deputy mayor for public safety chief of staff to the mayor Frank Carone Camille Joseph Barlick senior advisor to the mayor Zach Iskall commissioner of the New York City emergency management Laura Kavanaugh commissioner of the fire department Jessica Tish commissioner of the Department of Sanitation Vinnie Sapienza chief operating officer of the Department of Environmental Protection Leon Heywood Heyward, sorry deputy commissioner for sidewalks and inspection management Department of Transportation John Garvey deputy commissioner for ferries Department of Transportation Anthony Juliano deputy commissioner for operations community affairs units So I want to thank you all for joining today So I've been in touch with the mayor. We've all been in touch with the mayor throughout the day and He has asked that we provide all of you with an update on the city's full response To today's weather event, which I've just learned is named winter storm Elliott We know that the fire commissioner Kavanaugh has done a press briefing already in Staten Island and of course our OEM Commissioner Iskall has been speaking with the media all day But we wanted to give all of you an opportunity to hear exactly where we are All at the same time so nobody misses any information Before we go into the storm We wanted to give you an update on the tragic house fire in Staten Island For that we're joined by as I said by fire commissioner Laura Kavanaugh and deputy mayor Sheena Right and Chancellor Banks who've just returned from that site. So if you wouldn't mind deputy fire commissioner Sure, thank you for Stephanie mayor as Lorraine mentioned Deputy mayor Sheena Wright and myself were on scene in Staten Island and provided an update there But mayor Adams wanted us to update everybody here who couldn't make it to the scene this afternoon There was a fire on the second floor of a two-family home in Staten Island that took the lives of two very young children and Injured four other children two of which remain in very critical condition at the hospital While the fire is still under investigation, we can certainly say this today. Our hearts are broken The city's heart are broken today This is really an unspeakable tragedy for that family for the neighborhood for the local community and for our whole city We also had one firefighter on scene who sustained minor minor injuries And I also want to thank all of our members fire and EMS who responded and rushed to the scene so quickly We all feel the loss of these two young children who had bright futures in front of us and we grieve for them as a city New York City is a family the fire department is a family and we care for one another And we will take care of this family as a city turn it back over to the first deputy mayor Lorraine grow Thank You Commissioner Now I'm going to turn it over to Commissioner Eskall from the Office of Emergency Management Think of us a comprehensive update on the weather. Thank you Thank you first deputy mayor Laura our hearts are with the family So my team has been out Throughout the city today responding to this weather event alongside other first responders and other city agencies This is a difficult weather event. We needed to prepare not only for rain but also a Title flooding that was made worse by the new moon in addition to large amounts of wind offshore That was piling water into New York Harbor in addition to Jamaica Bay adding about three foot above mean tide Flood surge in addition to that and we sort of transitioned out of that phase Now we're starting to prepare the city for the next phase which is going to be a precipitous drop in temperature Going down to the low Teen single digits over the weekend in addition to that that leads to potential for black ice because the amount of precipitation and water on the ground That we also need to prepare for in addition to high winds up to 60 mile per hour gusts later today To start preparing for this event. There is a significant interagency effort that takes place Starting about 96 hours ago. This includes constant communication with the mayor with senior leadership And we do daily calls with our interagency team. This is about 90 Agencies from the city the state the federal government private sector partners public sector partners and non-profits During those calls. We start the call with a consult from the National Weather Service We get twice daily briefings from the National Weather Service at 044 at 05 45 and at 315 Where we go over the weather forecast and any changes to the forecast We then go and do Reporting from each of those agency partners about what they are going to be doing and what their potential concerns are Anticipation of this event and looking at the hazards and potential impacts and how we as the city will address them Those hazards include as I mentioned the black ice Title flooding rainfall So rainfall flooding and others Agencies the work that these agencies have done is Remarkable starting this morning at 05. We activated the city's situation room. This includes 23 plus city agencies state partners That are in constant communication all day long until this evening throughout this event to make sure we're in constant communication In order to prepare for this event some of the things that we did You know department of sanitation. They put 20 million pounds of salt out on the street. I believe it's seven 700 salt spreaders that they have Located across the street in order to prepare for the black ice in addition to that the NYPD has activated the Excuse me the Joint Traffic Management Center In order to make sure we are Tracking any traffic issues any power outages that could lead to traffic issues with traffic lights, etc. In addition to that they station multiple ESU trucks and other trucks around the city Including in areas prone to flooding in order to facilitate Rescues if needed they did do a number of rescues this this morning None of them were life-threatening. Most of them were folks who were trapped in in vehicles the FDNY Had a full complement of vehicles plus high-axle vehicles operating. They also put EMS into a 12-hour surge schedule Department of Environmental Protection Along with DOT and DSNY Did an incredible effort of clearing catch basins? We also deployed we call some interim flood protection measures to protect a wastewater treatment facility out in the Rockaways Our health and medical team One of the things that we do when we have these types of events is we create some GIS mapping to understand where the flooding might be We then look at what are all the different? critical facilities in those areas do we have Nursing homes adult care facilities we then start in consultation and in partnership with our state partners We reach out to all of them. We identify what's their patient census? Does anybody need to be evacuated are their generators working and then making sure that we are in close contact in case there's needs in those places? In addition to that parks activated store mobile last night where they can digest 311 calls And then send out inspectors to look at downed trees debris things that need to be removed and as of this morning activated their downed tree task force in order to address any of those issues In addition to also implementing some internal flood protection measures across the city Con Ed has flown in over 600 personnel from around the country to augment their teams on the ground here One of the issues with the high winds that we have coming in later today is it could lead to down power lines power outages We have the 600 additional personnel That's about 300 additional trucks that are now located across the city In order to enable us to respond quickly to down to power outages and down power lines MTA activated their incident command center as a 0900 yesterday They issued a soft ban on empty tractor trailers from 8 p.m. Tonight until 8 p.m. Tomorrow, sorry 8 p.m. Last night 8 p.m. Tomorrow They could extend that if conditions worsen Just making sure and checking my notes here to make sure I haven't missed anybody because there's so many Amazing and remarkable agencies that are involved And in addition to this because of the drop in temperatures one of the prime objectives that we have In our winter weather plan is protecting vulnerable populations So mentioned a little bit about the work we do with nursing homes adult care facilities in addition to that DSS is activated code blue which are teams that are going out Finding homeless individuals living on the streets And making sure we're getting them into shelter today. This is incredibly important as you all know Probably most of you walked out of your homes today. It's a little bit warmer. It's going to be a lot colder today That change in temperature leaves us very concerned about people who are on our streets and making sure that they're getting Getting into shelter. So looking forward to your questions can talk a little bit more about the impacts We've been out there. We're also opening up two service centers in Hamilton beach and in the rockaways One each later today Where red cross will be able to provide Shelt housing services or hotels to people that need it in addition to cleaning kits And also other materials or things that people need. So those will be open at 4 30 I can make sure to get the address to see you later today. Thank you For commissioners cabinet on guard. What is the status of the investigation of the last night's fire on the sandy ground? And how concerned are we about the other alas class fairs? So the investigation is ongoing it is done in conjunction with the coast guard because this was a maritime event We did open the compartment to the engine room today and confirmed that the fire is out So from this point forward, it will be an investigation working with the coast guard on the cost I spoke with the coast guard last night and the that specific Item came up and at this point there is no concern at all about it being a class item problem Is there anything in process with that now? Yeah, so we we worked with the red cross to identify blocks of hotel rooms to make sure that those were ready if people needed them in advance of the storm We also identified four reception centers Located in flood prone areas and four potential service centers. So we opened up Four library locations to make sure that they were ready if people needed a place to go throughout the day In addition to that we identified at least for it might have actually been more than that Schools in the neighborhoods that we could immediately turn into service centers if needed Yes, I certainly do know where he is but let me just say this to you He might as well be here because we've been speaking to each other constantly throughout the day and speaking with all of us To keep updated on what's going on and to actually direct us to do this But the mayor decided to take two days off and and get some rest And instead of course, he's dealing with this is but just not here No We we don't have that number yet. We're still collecting that information still doing those assessments Yes, so there's four libraries that were that we worked with to make sure that they were open and available Throughout the day that people could go to and then in addition to that We identify in these types of in the run-up to these events locations that we can turn into service centers should we need them Um, yep in the far rock ways. Yes, that's correct That is correct Say I will defer to department of transportation on on road closures in terms of black ice In terms of shutting everything down based on whether that's a decision that would be made at city hall based on A number of variables and factors and so with most weather plans we have certain triggers that are built in One of the complications with winter weather Unlike other events is that There's other variables time of day, right? Are you impacting a commute? Is it not a commuting hour when the storm might hit? What's the Validity of the forecast? What time of year it is, right? If it's coming into a holiday Versus during a weekday or versus a weekend. So these are all things that need to be assessed by the leadership team here at city hall In order to make those difficult decisions We're not shutting down bars or anything like that Again, as I said earlier, the mayor has taken two days off And uh, in fact, he has been participating in all of our meetings today many many times It's separately. What is the separately? What is the trigger for him coming back if not a fatal house fire? Thanks. Thank you everybody. Thank you