New York City officials prepared for power failures, road closures and falling temperatures Friday — but without Mayor Eric Adams at City Hall.
(Bloomberg) — New York City officials prepared for power failures, road closures and falling temperatures Friday — but without Mayor Eric Adams at City Hall.
City officials refused to disclose the mayor’s location at a storm briefing and didn’t list his whereabouts on the mayor’s public schedule.
First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo said she knew his whereabouts but wouldn’t disclose it during a press briefing.
“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,” she said.
“But the mayor decided to take two days off and get some rest. And instead, of course, he’s dealing with this, but just not here.”
Grillo cut the briefing off when reporters pressed for details on when the mayor would return.
Adams canceled an appearance at a food and clothing distribution event Wednesday night and has had no public events since.
Asked if the mayor was in town, Grillo said simply “no” but declined to say where he was.
The mayor’s office later sent out a Saturday schedule saying Adams would attend a Midnight Mass at St.
Patrick’s Cathedral for Christmas Eve.
A winter storm has battered a vast swath of the US and Canada over the past two days, knocking out power to more than 1.4 million homes and businesses, grounding thousands of flights and dashing hopes for delivery of last-minute holiday gifts.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency as the storm brought coastal flooding up to 3 feet along Long Island, while ice and high winds closed roads in and around Buffalo as well as the city’s airport.
In New York City, the impact of the so-called bomb cyclone will be mostly frigid temperatures and wind.
The temperature in the city was 55F (13C) at dawn. By 10 p.m., it’s forecast to be around 10F with gusty winds.
“This is a difficult weather event,” said Zachary Iscol, the city’s commissioner of emergency management at Friday’s briefing.
“We needed to prepare not only for rain, but also a tidal 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.”
Iscol said the city activated its emergency situation room Friday morning to coordinate traffic problems, homeless services and other emergency preparations.
He said Consolidated Edison had brought in 600 additional personnel and 300 trucks in the event of power failures.
–With assistance from Brian K. Sullivan.
(Updates with city saying Adams would attend Christmas Eve Mass, starting in fifth paragraph.)
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