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Mayor Eric Adams’ administration faltered in its response to the September rainstorm that dumped nearly 9 inches of water on parts of New York City, raising questions about its preparedness for similar extreme-weather events in the future, according to a new investigation by the city comptroller.
Nobody died during Tropical Storm Ophelia, unlike the 11 people who drowned in basement apartments during Hurricane Ida two years prior. Still, Ophelia paralyzed the subway system, flooded a hospital and required 11 people to be rescued from the waters on Sept. 29 of last year, as 8.65 inches of rain fell on parts of the city. And the new report, released Monday by Comptroller Brad Lander, faults the administration for how it prepared for and communicated the dangers.
For one, despite the importance of clearing catch basins on city streets to prevent flooding, 32 of the 51 specialized trucks that the city uses for that purpose were out of service at the time of the September storm — due mainly to a lack of available mechanics to maintain them. Before the storm, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection inspected fewer than half of the 964 catch basins it had designated as flood-prone “priority” locations, the comptroller’s report found.
Lander also faulted Adams for his belated public statements about the rainfall. As critics noted at the time, the mayor did not hold a press conference until 11:40 a.m. on the day of the storm, nearly three hours after heavy rains had begun. Public schools did not post guidance about dismissals until 2:30 p.m., and a robocall to public housing residents did not go out until 4:45 p.m. (Adams, for his part, memorably said that any New Yorker surprised for the storm must have been “living under a rock.”)
Adams’ administration has pointed to the notices it sent on the NotifyNYC platform as evidence that it communicated the dangers in advance. But only 186,000 people — 2.7% of New Yorkers over 16 years old — received alerts about the Sept. 29 flooding, according to data provided by the administration. Another alert meant specifically for basement-apartment dwellers went to a tiny list of just 2,400 subscribers the day before the storm. (The city now includes messages for basement-apartment residents in general alerts, the comptroller noted.)
Lander’s report also solves a mystery over whom Adams had chosen to be his “extreme weather coordinator,” a position created under Bill de Blasio tasked with coordinating real-time response and leading post-mortem reviews to correct weak points. In the wake of Ophelia, Adams’ office refused to say which person was filling that role, and only last month revealed to the comptroller’s office that the mayor had tapped his chief of staff, Camille Joseph Varlack — although her appointment has still not been announced.
Lander, a political rival of the mayor’s, credits the Adams administration on a few fronts. The city started monitoring Ophelia a week in advance, distributed thousands of flood barriers and rain barrels, used flood sensors to track waters in real time, and paid community networks to amplify its emergency messages in hopes of contacting hard-to-reach residents, the report notes. (That work did not begin until 10 a.m. on the day of the storm, however, after heavy rain had begun.)
“Extreme storms are hitting New York City more frequently and we must do the work to be more prepared for them,” Lander said at a press conference announcing the findings on Monday. “There was real reason to believe that a lack of communication and preparedness made the city’s response to the storm worse.”
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Much of Lander’s report compares the Adams administration’s response to a set of reforms introduced by de Blasio after 2021’s Hurricane Idea, which included commitments to clear catch basins and coordinate flood response across different agencies.
Lander’s office makes nearly a dozen recommendations for how the administration should improve its preparedness for future extreme weather, likely to only grow more common due to climate change.
Besides widening its communications beyond NotifyNYC, the administration should formally build community canvassing into its emergency protocols and task the Environmental Protection Department with replacing its aging catch basin cleaning trucks, the report states. (Thirteen new trucks are set to be delivered in July through a $15 million procurement, but no timeline has been set for the remaining 18.)
More broadly, Lander also called on both the state Legislature and City Council to continue reforming the city’s sluggish capital process to make it easier for the city to quickly complete stormwater projects. Lander specifically echoed the mayor’s request for alternative delivery reforms, which could allow for speedier selection of development teams.
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Nick Garber , 2024-04-22 20:08:22
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