February 13, 2016Mayor Bill de Blasio: Morning everyone – here to give you an update on the extreme weather that we’re facing now in New York City – we’ll be facing throughout the weekend. Joined here by leaders of all of our agencies who are part of this emergency response: Deputy Mayor Herminia Palacio, Deputy Mayor Richard Buery, our OEM Commissioner, Emergency Management Commissioner Joe Esposito, Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro, NYPD Chief James Luongo. We have from Housing Preservation and Development First Deputy Commissioner Don Shacknai, Chair of the Housing Authority Shola Olatoye, the General Manger of the Housing Authority Michael Kelly, our Human Resources Administration Commissioner Steve Banks, Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett, Aging Commissioner Donna Corrado, and Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement at the Department of Buildings Timothy Hogan. So as you can see, all city agencies are on alert and working together to address this challenge.Now we’re headed into the coldest part of the forecast now. The city is facing some of the coldest temperatures and wind chills we’ve seen in the last 20 years. So I want to emphasize to all New Yorkers how serious this situation is and how much people should change their habits over the next 24, 48 hours. This must be taken seriously. It’s not business as usual. Again, some of the coldest temperatures and wind chills we’ve seen in the last 20 years. Right now, temperatures are at 19 degrees but when you add wind chill, it feels like negative two – that’s right now here in New York City. Wind is a key factor here – we’re expecting sustained winds of 25 to 30 miles per hour today with gusts as high as 50 miles per hour. So on top of the extreme cold we have wind that really will affect everyone who is outside – not only in terms of making it colder but also making it hard to get around – that’s another good reason why everyone should stay indoors to the maximum extent possible. The – it says – the warmer temperatures that we talked about yesterday have now passed. Everything we are going to see in the next 24 hours will just get colder and colder. So again it feels like negative two, but it will get worse. Temperatures will continue to plummet today and with wind chill values, we expect the result to be a –25 degree reading overnight. So tonight going into Sunday, it will get as low as –25 degrees. Twenty-five below zero in terms of what it will really feel like.I want everyone to know – it is so important to take this seriously – to stay indoors to the maximum extent possible. If for any reason you have to go out – go out for as little time as possible. Bundle up – lots of layers – do not have skin exposed. These are very tough conditions, especially for people who are more vulnerable. They are dangerous conditions for seniors, for infants, for people who have diseases and conditions that could already compromise their health like cardiovascular situations and lung conditions. We want people to be very, very careful. We also want to emphasize anyone under the influence of drugs or alcohol may not recognize just how dangerous these conditions are. People really need to look out for their friends and make sure people do not stay outside in these conditions. Wear extra clothing, do all the common sense things to protect yourself.National Weather Service has moved up its Wind Chill Advisory to one o’clock today and that will continue through noon tomorrow. But as we know, sometimes the weather forecasts change and so we have to be ready for that cold to continue. So just because right now it is advised to end at noon tomorrow doesn’t mean that’s what will happen. It may go longer, but certainly we know starting at one o’clock today and going through noon Sunday – at minimum – this Wind Chill Advisory is in effect. Temperatures on Sunday will remain in the low to mid-teens and we are not forecast to get above the freezing mark before mid-afternoon or late afternoon on Monday.Now an additional factor, we are expecting some light snow on Monday morning. Again, we watch the weather service reports very closely. They change frequently because the weather changes. So we are going to keep updating people regularly. At this moment, we are expecting only one or two inches of accumulation on Monday. We do not expect more than that. At some point, that will change into a wintry mix and then freezing rain and then regular rain in the course of the day Monday. But that again could change – we will keep you updated. We do expect some minor coastal flooding Tuesday morning. But it should be less than what we experienced last week, so we’re going to keep you updated on that as well. All New York City residents should be monitoring the weather forecast regularly to look for these changes and look for adjustments that you have to make.Now our Code Blue plan remains in effect. We’ve been conducting intensive outreach all over the city – encouraging anyone who is on the streets, living on our streets, to come in to shelter. Last night, our homeless outreach teams helped 62 people come in from the cold. In addition 207 individuals walked in to our health and hospital facilities to escape the cold. So combined almost 270 people came in. I want to remind all New Yorkers to please look out for your neighbors, check in on your neighbors – particularly our senior citizens and folks with any kind of health problems or disabilities. Also, again, stay in touch with your friends, family. Make sure everyone knows about the precautions they should take. And another reminder – bring your pets inside. This is not a situation where pets should be outside for prolonged periods of time. If you do not have heat or hot water, call 3-1-1 immediately. Very important point – we’ve really been trying to get this point across intensely. If you do not have heat or hot water, call 3-1-1 immediately so we can act on that.I want to give you an update on our Housing Authority, which has at this point – all of our developments have heat. The Housing Authority has prepared – weatherized – and prepared all 2,000 boilers in our developments and we have 24-hour response teams in place. Also want you to know, that in terms of our Department of Housing Preservation and Development, we have added 50 staff for duty this weekend. Now, 150 are on duty to respond to heat and hot water complaints. Overnight we received 388 complaints. Although a number of those may be duplicates – people calling from the same building – but HPD is ready and has beefed up its operation to be able to respond to any and all complaints.That’s the basic update. I want to remind people – we have another challenge that comes in the cold weather – which is that people have a lack of heat in their home – trying to improvise they open up the stove, they do other things, they use other types of informal sources to heat their home. That can be very dangerous. The better solution is to call us so we can get your heat restored or go someplace with friends and family where the heat is working. But not to try to improvise – that can lead to other dangers like fire and carbon monoxide poisoning. So we want to remind New Yorkers: most fires occur in the winter months for this very reason. So please do not improvise when it comes to heat for your home and make sure that your smoke detectors and your carbon monoxide detectors are working. One other point – because of these extreme winds that we’re having, yesterday we ordered all of the cranes in the city – construction cranes – to be secured and out of operation. And that was accomplished late yesterday, so none of our construction cranes will be operational today given these winds.A couple of words in Spanish before we take your questions.[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]With that, we welcome your questions. Yes?Question: You mentioned all those who are most vulnerable. How many people do you estimate are at risk?Mayor: When you say – give us a little bit more on what you’re talking about.Question: For example, the homeless, those who are addicted – how many people are at risk?Mayor: Look, in terms of the homeless population on the street – and I’ll let Commissioner Banks speak to this as well – we have 3,000 to 4,000 people who we know – broadly from the research that has been done – have spent time on our streets on a regular basis. But we also know that a lot of people in the cold weather seek shelter in a variety of ways. Some of them came in with us last night with our homeless outreach teams, a number went to hospitals, but a number go to other locations that we don’t know, but we do know that they get in off the streets. That’s the immediate problem related to the homeless. And I want to thank the outreach teams because they have been out in these really brutal conditions searching all over to make sure that people came in safely. But when I mention the problem of people who might be under the influence of drugs and alcohol – I’m saying folks who you know go out on the town for example, get drunk, and then spend time outside. We have to be really careful tonight. It’s a Saturday night – a lot of people will be out. It’s very dangerous. So friends, family members should make sure that if – first of all people should be very moderate in what they do to begin with – but that no one just goes outside and puts themselves in harm’s way because they can’t actually sense how bad it is. Commissioner Banks, you want to add?Commissioner Steven Banks, Human Resources Administration: No, thanks.Mayor: We’ve covered it, okay. Any other questions? Yes?Question: Have there been any weather-related deaths or accidents?Mayor: Not that we know of at this point. Thank God.Question: We saw a lot of homeless people camped out in the subway station over here and even on the subway. Are you going to try to get those people into shelters or just let them be?Mayor: Look we are trying to get everyone in to shelter. And again, Deputy Mayor, the Commissioner, will speak to this too. We’re trying to get everyone in to shelter. That’s the overall plan in general – not just because we are having a cold weather emergency. And that’s why we’ve expanded the outreach effort with the HOME-STAT program. And I remind people in this city – unlike almost any other city in the entire nation – there is a shelter bed for every single person who needs one. But we understand some homeless folks are resistant to that. But we do not want any situation, particularly in the cold emergency, where anyone may be in a vulnerable situation.Want to speak [inaudible].Commissioner Banks: We have 160 outreach workers out on the streets throughout the course of the day. We will be bringing people in as we did last night, as we’ve been doing all week long. When we encounter people in the subways, we make every effort to bring them in. Obviously the risk is greater on the streets than in the subways, and we are prioritizing bringing people in off the streets as we have as the build up to this weather condition has been unfolding. I think that the work that’s gone on over the course of the winter is showing results in terms of bringing people in to the system. We have capacity and we encourage anyone who knows anyone who’s outside to work with us to bring them in. And if you see somebody, call 3-1-1, and we will dispatch a team to work with that person and bring that person in.Mayor: Okay, any other questions? Yes?Question: [Inaudible] on the special lookout for drunk people who may not be realizing that they need to come indoors?Mayor: All of our uniformed services are going to be on high alert tonight looking for any situation for where someone may be in danger. So obviously we have a lot of police officers on patrol all over the city – all of our Fire and EMS folks. Everyone is going to be looking out for anyone in distress.Question: [inaudible] Dr. Palacio or Dr. Bassett talk about the health effects [inaudible] makes you kind of impervious to cold or make you think that you are impervious to cold?Commissioner Mary Bassett, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Well the main health effects of extreme cold are frostbite and hypothermia. Frostbite is the freezing of your skin– and at the kind of double digits below zero that we’re going to be seeing – just being outside for ten minutes may bring a risk of frostbite. The other risk is hypothermia which is when your core body temperature falls and you can’t temperature regulate. People have slurred speech, seem confused – if you see someone like that, you should call 9-1-1. People who have mental health disorders – who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol – may not recognize that they are placing themselves in harm’s way in terms of cold exposure. Also people with underlying diseases – heart disease, diabetes, and so on – are at higher risk, as are the old and the young. So the real, main message is don’t go outside unless you really have to go outside. Stay in a warm place. If you go outside, dress appropriately – wear layers, cover your skin, and limit your time outdoors.Mayor: Other questions? Yes?Question: You mentioned this shouldn’t be business as usual. Are you recommending that business do anything differently? Because some events throughout the city have been cancelled.Mayor: Sure, well I think for the vast majority of our businesses – they can go on about their work, but I want them to be sensitive in terms their employees – not having their employees out for long periods of time. The things we would normally do we just have to do a little differently in this kind of crisis. So for example, if a business has their employees out – delivery people – one, they’ve got to be very careful that they don’t spend too much time outside – that they have the proper clothing. It’s a dangerous situation, so everyone should think first and foremost about how to protect people. Yeah?Question: There is a farmers market going on outside Borough Hall today. And it’s GrowNYC and they’re saying – I spoke to someone there – and they said they have to be out there to provide fresh food and fruit and vegetables. I mean is that really necessary? What is the city’s [inaudible]?Mayor: I think that’s – look that’s a good thing that we have a farmers markets to provide quality produce – that’s something we value quite a bit. Obviously this is a situation where everyone should take precautions, so we want to make sure that anyone who is working in those kinds of situations has heaters and an appropriate way to keep them safe. And again, if anyone’s out – I’m not going to be surprised if some New Yorkers are going shopping for food. Some people didn’t have the option to shop for food before this weekend, but they should do it in a smart way. Don’t spend too much time outside. Get what you need and get back inside.Okay, everyone got what they need? Thanks so much.