New York City should never have been surprised by the flash floods that killed at least eight residents when the remnants of Hurricane Ida ravaged the northeast, elected officials said Thursday.
“It is unacceptable that we should not prepare for Ida with the same rigor as for Henri, and that is a failure on the part of the city,” said Councilor Francisco Moya (D-Queens).
“No one should have been driving trying to escape the storm or getting caught at work due to a dangerous flood, and no one should be at home flooding without knowing when the water will stop or what to do. , and risk losing your life. “
A spokesman for the National Weather Service said there were “aggressive public messages about rain and rapid flooding prematurely,” including three emergency warnings about instant flooding issued by his forecast office in Upton, Long Island.
“There was no doubt that the weather forecast was punctual,” said Councilman Barry Grodenchik (D-Queens).
“It is clear that we are still trying to resist. It takes an eternity. “
Councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn) also blasted the city’s stormwater resistance plan, published in May, as “totally inadequate,” calling it “not at all close” to dealing with runoff. torrential storms.
“We need a much more aggressive and comprehensive approach now, which not only depends on more private sector studies and incentives, but also provides the resources, regulatory reform, implementation and enforcement needed to make changes to scale quickly,” he said. to say. Lander, the Democratic candidate for control of the city.
At a news conference Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio called Wednesday night’s deadly floods “awake” and added, “We got the message.”
But as the storm was falling on the Big Apple, de Blasio appeared live on NBC’s “Peacock” broadcast service, where he discussed issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and shot his longtime political rival. , dishonored the former governor. Andrew Cuomo.
In 2019, auditor Scott Stringer asked De Blasio to speed up spending on resilience infrastructure when he launched an audit showing the city had not spent $ 8.1 billion in federal funds to recover from the 2012 Sandy Superstorm .
At the time, the City Council stated that it was “spending our federal recovery funds faster than the national average.”
Stringer’s office did not immediately respond to a request to update Sandy’s recovery expense.
