Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds Briefing to Discuss Extreme Heat Expected This Week

June 17, 2024

Video available at: https://youtu.be/TyFC0kME1io

Camille Joseph Varlack, Chief of Staff to the Mayor: Good morning, everyone. My name is Camille Joseph Varlack and I serve as chief of staff to the mayor as well as extreme weather coordinator for New York City. Our administration is laser focused on protecting public safety, rebuilding our economy and creating a more livable city for working class New Yorkers. As New York City prepares for a potential extreme heat weather event to impact our area tomorrow, the Adams administration is bringing together senior leadership to update the public on what to expect and how to prepare. For more information, I will turn it over to Mayor Eric Adams.  

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thanks so much, Camille, and really thank the team, the entire team is prepared for what this weather will bring and really want to thank Commissioner Iscol and his entire team and not only our agencies but also Con Edison is here as well to really show the coordination that's need and this team here at OEM where they are constantly vigilant not only looking after these weather emergencies but as well as just the constant emergencies that our city could have at any given time. 

A few weeks ago, we stood together at the Brooklyn Museum talking about our preparedness and how we wanted to put pieces in place and to be ready when the weather changes or shifts and we're now here. I made it clear that the administration will make sure summer is fun but with that fun, there's some real safety issues that we should be prepared for. 

The first heat wave of the season is here and we are ready. We expect the National Weather Service to issue a heat advisory for New York City that would be in effect from Thursday, June 20th through Friday, June 21st. High heat and humidity are also being forecast over the next few days. We expect to see temperatures in the low 90s on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Cooling centers will be open starting tomorrow and we expect to hit peak heat on Thursday and Friday with the heat index possibly reaching 99 degrees. We want to be clear, this is extremely hot for June and New Yorkers should not underestimate the heat. With climate change leading to more frequent and intense heat, summers are different than they were before and so we should expect and be prepared for the hot weather that is coming. 

This is an indication we're just starting out the summer months. We can only expect even more as the summer continues to move forward. That is why it's important to get into good habits now and while we're coming together early to give information that will help everyday New Yorkers. We saw this threat of extreme heat just last week. 

What happened in Mexico, breaking heat records in Phoenix and Las Vegas, breaking temperature records and we see some of the fires that are taking place in California now. A heat wave can be more than just uncomfortable, it can be deadly and life-threatening if you are not prepared. New York City has a plan to beat the heat and we want all New Yorkers to have a plan too. We have expanded the number of cooling centers earlier and that are available this year and they will be open starting tomorrow for New Yorkers to keep cool. We're joined here also by Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez from [the] Department of Aging and her team is doing everything possible to make sure our seniors are aware of where the cooling centers are located. 

We also want to remind New Yorkers there are specifically pet-friendly cooling centers in every borough. Beaches will be open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. As a reminder, public pools are not open yet. New Yorkers can find additional ways to stay cool online with cool options mapped at finder.nyc.gov/coolingcenters or by calling 311. 

As I made clear last week, having a working air conditioner in your home is one of the most effective ways to guard against heat emergencies and we want you to monitor for blackouts. New Yorkers should know that we are in constant communication with our utility partners including Con Edison and PSEG on Long Island and we will be monitoring the electric system. The system can be stressed. When temperatures are high and everyone is using their air conditioner, so we want to be extremely conscious of that. 

Please also make sure to check in on your neighbors. We all know who's around us who have either breathing conditions, air quality conditions, or if there are seniors who are living alone, please let's be good New Yorkers and ensure that we give them the support that they need. If you must go outside, take breaks, utilize whatever area that you could have for shade, wear a hat, do whatever is possible to keep your body temperature down. 

We all urge New Yorkers to plan ahead. It is crucial that you plan ahead and make sure everyone is safe including your pets. As I said a few weeks ago, we want New Yorkers working outside to stay cool. We will be distributing 1,000 of these cool kits to delivery workers and outdoor laborers working under the summer sun and as well as promoting safety for all outdoor workers. 

We will continue to monitor and communicate with the National Weather Service. Extreme heat is not our only concern. We saw what happened with the Canadian fires. We want to make sure that the air quality is also monitored. Last year, we saw how quickly dangerous wildfire smoke could blanket our city, even from fires thousands of miles away. 

Air quality conditions in New York City may be unhealthy for some people over the next few days. Please be conscious of that if you're dealing with any respiratory issues. People with heart or breathing problems and older adults may be more sensitive to air quality conditions and should consider limited, prolonged, or intense outdoor activities. 

New Yorkers are encouraged to sign up. We say over and over again, sign up for NotifyNYC, the city's free emergency notification and it will keep everyone up to date. NotifyNYC is available in 14 languages including American Sign Language. You can also visit airnow.gov, that's airnow.gov for up-to-date information on air quality in your area. 

Our administration is clear public safety is the center of everything we do and making sure New Yorkers are safe is part of these announcements. That includes preparing for weather emergency and protecting people outdoors. Again, I want to turn it over to Commissioner Iscol and thank him and his team for a job well done.

Commissioner Zach Iscol, New York City Emergency Management: Thank you, sir. Thank you to the team here today at Emergency Management and from the administration for all their work going into this and all of our partners like ConEd. 
According to the National Weather Service, the heat advisories that are currently in effect in the surrounding region will likely be extended into New York City later this week. We are in the path of extreme heat, bringing along potential health risks in the forthcoming days. We're looking at heat indexes that could reach close to 100 degrees in the region. These numbers are dangerously high. 

The cumulative effect of prolonged heat can be especially dangerous as the body's ability to regulate temperature becomes increasingly strained. In fact, extreme heat is the most dangerous weather phenomenon we have in New York City. We lose over 350 New Yorkers a year on average to heat. Because of this administration's number one priority mission of protecting public safety and making our city livable for all throughout the year, and especially the past few days, we have been working to safeguard our most vulnerable residents from the dangers of heat and we will continue to do so. 

We've said it over and over again that heat is a silent killer and it poses a significant threat especially to our most vulnerable residents, adults ages 60 and older, young children, those with preexisting health conditions like health disease, diabetes, mental health conditions, or cognitive impairment. 

As a city known for our resilience, we stand ready to face this challenge. NYCEM, in our coordination role, has been working diligently to ensure we have the necessary resources to respond promptly to any potential heat-related incidents or emergencies. Later this morning at 11:00, we'll be activating the city's Heat Emergency Plan. This has three key objectives. Number one, providing hazard awareness and public messaging. Number two is minimizing impacts to public health. Number three, minimizing impacts to infrastructure. 

We are actively working alongside our city agencies and partners to guarantee a unified and effective response. This includes the Department of the Aging, which will be opening up senior centers to act as cooling centers. FDNY is monitoring call volume and is making spray caps for fire hydrants available to anyone 18 and up with proper identification. You can request them from a firehouse. 

Parks is keeping beaches open and safe and making available options for water features like spray showers, drinking fountains, and shade trees and canopies through their coolant map, also available on nyc.gov/beattheheat. DCAS is making sure city workers are safe and city buildings are prepared for any operational or power disruptions. 

NYPD and Department of Homeless Services are coordinating on homeless outreach. DEP is monitoring water usage and water pressure complaints and hydrant use. DOB may issue an Excavation Safety Alert later this morning or as we, as this heat wave progress to ensure our infrastructure remains protected and safe. 

We're coordinating very closely with Dr. Vasan and his team, Health and Hospitals, the Greater New York Hospital Association, New York State Department of Health to contact critical healthcare facilities, monitor EMS call volume and response times, and assess status of facilities. 

As part of our heat emergency plan, our network of 700 certain volunteers and 37 strengthening community nonprofit partners are amplifying our emergency notifications to reach communities such as immigrants, non-English speakers, older adults, and people with disabilities. We are also working with City Meals on Wheels, Staten Island, God Loves We Deliver, and the Food Bank of New York City to distribute heat safety information to vulnerable populations. 

In New York City, most heat-related deaths occur within homes lacking air conditions, often due to limited access or financial constraint. This vulnerability disproportionately is experienced by Black New Yorkers who are twice as likely as white New Yorkers to succumb to heat-exacerbated mortality. 

While it will be relentlessly hot all day, the peak intensity is forecasted to occur between noon and 8 p.m. each day. Heat is expected to remain persistently high even at night. That means that there will be little relief at night as the temperatures maybe get down to the 70s. This week and any time there's high heat, we need everyone to take individual preparedness actions in the form of cool options, which are a wide range of accessible locations and actions for New Yorkers to find relief during hot weather. 

Cool options include familiar places like libraries, community centers, malls, pools, and museums. They also include the homes of your family, friends, or neighbors. In addition to cooling centers, which are the air-conditioned sites open during heat emergencies that we operate to provide New Yorkers relief from the heat. 

This year we're also partnering with local businesses, elected officials, and organizations to expand our network of cooling centers. I want to assure New Yorkers that beginning tomorrow through at least Friday, cooling centers will be operational citywide. You can access a map of cooling centers along with other heat tips at nyc.gov/beattheheat. That's nyc.gov/beattheheat or by calling 311. 

As the mayor has mentioned, it's really important to prioritize your well-being during this heat wave, particularly when it comes to hydrating yourself, seeking shade, air-conditioned places, or relief whenever you can. That's also critical to mention. We all need to adopt a balanced approach to energy use. NYCEM and ConEd are working in close coordination to monitor the city's energy supply, working to avoid disruptions or outages that could adversely affect everyone's well-being. Matt Ketschke, president of ConEd, is here with us today. 

Although air conditioning is an important tool in this heat that can be life-saving, it does not need to be operating at maximum capacity. We encourage New Yorkers to set it to a low cool to stay comfortable and safe while saving electricity costs and reducing load on the grid. If possible, postpone non-essential energy consumption activities this week, such as doing laundry, using other utilities that take a lot of energy, especially on Thursday and Friday, or reserve these actions for at night and not during peak heat hours. 

Then finally, most importantly, please check in on your neighbors, especially older adults, those with medical conditions. We have activated our advanced warning system. This is designed to alert organizations that assist individuals with disabilities and access and functional needs. Abandon pending emergencies. If you receive services, please reach out to your provider to find out any important information and how they are responding to this event. 

Finally, one of our city's most important tools is public messaging. I would not be the New York City's Emergency Management Commissioner if I did not encourage everyone to sign up for NotifyNYC. As the mayor said, it's available in 14 languages, including American Sign Language. You can sign up by going to nyc.gov/notify, by calling 311, or by downloading the app. Thank you so much.

Joseph Varlack: Thank you, Commissioner Iscol. During extreme heat events, the health and safety of New York City residents, of course, is top priority, as we've already noted. It's now my pleasure to introduce Dr. Ashwin Vasan, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, Department of Mental Health and Hygiene: Good morning. It's great to be here to share some health and safety tips during this impending heat wave. As I said last year, and I'll say again, because it bears repeating, the effects of climate change become more real to us every single day. 

While very hot days are, of course, normal, the number and the duration of these hot days we are seeing each and every year is not. The risk to our planet presents risks to our health, and heat is, of course, the deadliest of all extreme weather events here in New York City and across the United States. In short, I encourage all New Yorkers to take this weather seriously, for yourself as well as for those in your life. 

If at all possible, stay in a cool, air-conditioned place. A fan is not enough. If you have air conditioning, as you heard, setting it at low cool or 78 degrees will both help keep you safe and cool and help keep your energy bills in check as well as protecting our grid for everyone else. 

If you do not have air conditioning, find a cool option nearby that has air conditioning, as you've just heard from Commissioner Iscol and others about how to find air-conditioned spaces that can reduce heat strain on the body. Call 311 or visit the cooling center website to find out where cooling centers are located and when they are open. 

If there are other options, like a friend's place, a mall, a museum, a coffee shop, a library, a cooling center, be careful. There are other options to stay cool. Be careful when returning home from those cooler options if it is still hot indoors. Continue to seek out cool spaces throughout the day as long as it remains hot, and for a few days after if your home is still hot. That's an important message. It's not just about what the temperature is at any given moment, it's about the residual heat that lasts throughout the night and into the successive days, even after the heat wave is declared over. 

New Yorkers should also be very aware of signs of heat-related illness on the body. Heat stroke occurs when the body's temperature rises quickly and can rapidly lead to death. Call 911 if you or someone displays the following signs. Hot dry skin or cold clammy skin. I want to be clear here, hot dry skin usually comes first when the body's trying to hold on to whatever hydration it has. Then cool clammy skin happens next when your body is totally, all the blood vessels have shut down and it's holding on to essential functions. 

Confusion or disorientation, nausea and vomiting, any trouble breathing rapid heartbeat, weakness or dizziness. I'm going to try to keep this as simple by just reiterating a few simple points. Check on your neighbors, family, friends, especially older adults, seniors, and those with chronic physical and mental health conditions, and people who live alone. That's an important point. 

People who live alone, even if they don't have those other conditions, if they don't have access to air conditioning, are at higher risk of heat-related complications. Make sure they are staying cool and can get to a place with air conditioning and are drinking plenty of water. Staying in a cool place may be the best way to stay safe, but it isn't the only way. 

Drinking plenty of water and avoiding drinks containing alcohol and caffeine. When I talk about water consumption, it's important to stay ahead of it. Do not wait until you feel thirsty. That is a sign that you're already dehydrated. Do not wait in this temperature. Keep ahead of it. Keep a consistent water intake. 

Take things slow. During a heat emergency, reduce, eliminate, or even reschedule strenuous outdoor activities if you can. When you are outside, or if you have to be outside, limit activity, find shade, and dress for the heat. If you normally exercise outdoors, avoid the hottest part of the day and do it early in the morning or late in the evening. 

For those without air conditioning, a cool bath or shower can help, but is not a replacement for staying cool and getting to a cooling center or another cool location. Please avoid a sudden plunge into icy cold water, which can be a shock to your system and make you feel dizzy and sick, particularly if you're already dehydrated. It's better to start with tepid or lukewarm water and then cool it down safely and more slowly. Also, keeping your shades drawn is important to help keep indoor temperatures down. 

For older adults specifically, these messages are especially important for you. Please ensure you're listening to your body and paying close attention to how you feel. Staying hydrated and cool is especially important. Drinking water, again, even if you're not thirsty, and avoiding caffeine and alcohol is paramount. Frequent cool showers are advisable if you do not have air conditioning. 

We can expect to have a number of very hot days this summer. Keeping these tips handy and paying attention to how you're feeling is essential. The guidance from your body is the most important guidance we have. Listen to what it's telling you. Thank you so much. 

Joseph Varlack: Thank you. Thank you, commissioner. Next, it is my pleasure to introduce Alexandra Silver, the Director of the Mayor's Office of Animal Welfare, who is a true leader in ensuring the well-being and safety of our city's four-legged friends, as well as our friend Hugo.

Alexandra Silver, Director, Mayor's Office of Animal Welfare: Thank you. I'm Alex. This is Hugo. Hugo is from the Brooklyn Cat Cafe, and he's available for adoption. I'm thrilled that we are thinking of all New Yorkers when we talk about the threats of heat we're including our animal companions. Many of us in New York have companion animals. If you don't, I encourage you to adopt or foster. 

A lot of the guidance that we talked about for humans, a lot of it applies to animals. We want to make sure that our companion animals have access to fresh, clean water so that they stay hydrated, just like we need to. They also, as Commissioner Vasan said, should be staying in cool areas. Really don't want to overexert them. When you walk your dog, you want to do it in the cooler parts of the day for both yours and your pet's safety. The early morning hours, the later evening hours. 

When you are outside, be very aware of the asphalt because it can heat very quickly and heat up paw pads, which are very sensitive, of course. We never want to leave an animal in a car, even if it's for a few minutes. Even if it's with the windows cracked, temperatures can rise very quickly. I just want to remind everyone, please be cognizant of that. 

Again, just like with humans, we want to be aware of signs of heat stroke or overheating in our animals. These include, but are not limited to, excessive panting, drooling, weakness. We want to be on the lookout for all of those things. As has been mentioned as well, there are pet-friendly cooling centers in New York. If you need access, you can access a pet-friendly cooling center. Thank you.

Joseph Varlack: To tell us a little bit about their preparedness, I'd like to ask the president of ConEd, Matt Ketschke, to come up. Good morning.

Matt Ketschke, President, Consolidated Edison Company of New York: Thank you. As the mayor and Commissioner Iscol will indicate in their remarks, we're in for some hot weather, and that hot weather does tend to put stress on the electric delivery system. 

The energy delivery systems for New York are extraordinarily reliable. It's 10 times more reliable than most of the rest of the country. That being said, we tend to experience an uptick in activity when we get hot weather. We are anticipating that. We have brought extra crews and staffing in anticipation of hot weather to be able to respond to any issues that we have over the next several days. 

We also have our emergency response center open 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the duration of this event, and we will be in close contact with the New York City Emergency Management Office for any issues that arise.
The one thing I would ask is that if a customer does experience an electric outage, please contact us by calling either 800-75-CON-ED or online at www.coned.com. If you report that outage, we can send you text updates for the estimated restoration time and how long you expect to be out as our crews respond. Thank you.

Question: I want to talk about New York City Public Schools. Is this always an issue in the heat? Do we see maybe canceled recesses? Are there going to be extra efforts made for school kids as well?

First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg, Department of Education: Great question. As much as we need to check in on our older New Yorkers, we are really focused on making sure that our kids are safe during this heat wave, so we're doing a number of things. 

You're right that one of the things that our principals do is make sure that during recess our children are safe, and that means maybe limiting the amount of time the kids are outside depending on the conditions, changing the activities that they're doing, so they may not be doing activities that require as much exertion, playing in the shade, et cetera. They will make that call. Principals will make that call on a school-by-school basis. 

We are also making sure our custodial crews are out early. As schools are closed today for the Eid holiday. They will be closed Wednesday for Juneteenth, but will be open Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Our crews are going to be out there very early in the morning to cool our schools. All of our schools have air conditioning in instructional spaces. An increasing number have air conditioning in the common spaces, meaning the auditoriums and the gyms, and so our custodial crews will be out there very early cooling those buildings before the children get there, so by the time the children get into school, they will be in a cool place, certainly in their classrooms, they will be cool. 

This is something we're monitoring. We put guidance out already to our principals about these procedures, including the health risks and the signs of health issues that Dr. Vasan talked about. We will reissue that again this week and make sure that we're keeping all of our children and our staff members safe.

Question: My question is, when it comes to priority and responding to electrical outages, are there going to be more crews during the hottest part of the day, during the nighttime, so that the response time is more efficient?

Ketschke: During these type of events, we spread our crews both on days and nights. Typically, electric loads and then the possibility of having outages are higher in commercial districts during the day, and then if you move to residential areas, the electrical strain shifts to the residential areas and the off hours. We staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week through these events, with even staffing through the overall period so that we can get a response.

Question: How about any upgrades or investments to the grid to make it more sustainable, resilient?

Ketschke: Overall, through the course of this year, we've invested about $2 billion in energy infrastructure upgrades for New York City and Westchester County to both harden our systems, prepare for increasing overall demand, and to also prepare for other types of weather events like overhead storms, flooding.

Question: Yes, to the mayor. Mayor, what reassurances have you been given and how much confidence do you have that the city's power grid will hold up this week with no disruptions?

Mayor Adams: Over and over again, we have witnessed how well Con Edison has responded to these extreme weather patterns, and they're well, just well trained for this moment. They don't start when we have a heat advisory, but they're preparing for this all the time. 

I visited a couple of their plants and sites. We should be really pleased on how well our infrastructure responds to these weather emergencies. Things happen when you're dealing with an overuse and overconsumption of power. They immediately respond to coordination. That's why the entire team is here, because it's a team effort. It's not only on one entity. The entire team must respond accordingly. I have a lot of confidence in Con Edison and how we respond after. Okay.

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