Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
AGENCY TESTIMONY
Opposition to Introduction 807 on flash flood shelters
0:11:56
·
107 sec
The testimony outlines Emergency Management's strong opposition to Introduction 807, which proposes establishing pre-designated flash flood shelters. The agency cites scientific limitations and potential dangers to New Yorkers as primary concerns.
- Emphasizes the impracticality of pre-designating flash flood shelters due to the unpredictable nature of flash flooding
- Argues that advising people to leave their homes for predetermined locations could be more dangerous than staying put or moving to nearby higher ground
- Highlights concerns about resource allocation and the potential for limiting the city's flexible response capabilities
Heather Roiter
0:11:56
We have deep concern regarding introduction 807 related to, the scientific limitations as well as the potential for scope and danger to New Yorkers as it's currently written.
0:12:07
All of the scientific and operational concerns we detailed through this testimony highlight the low predictability and highly localized but not predictable to geotarget, the nature of flash flooding.
0:12:20
This underlines the impracticality of developing and operating flash flood shelters in New York City pre flash flood.
0:12:27
The concept of opening a shelter before the flash flooding occurs is fraught with scientific and operational efficiencies relating to the timing, location, and resource allocation.
0:12:38
The entire city can be at flash flood risk.
0:12:40
We cannot safely advise people to leave their home and go to a predetermined location that we cannot guarantee will have the safe path given the short notice of localized impacts, which are almost in real time.
0:12:53
That is not how flash floods work, and we have laid this out in the testimony today in terms of the forecast capabilities for flash floods.
0:13:01
Additionally, piloting flash flood shelters in 10 neighborhoods preemergency would consume resources to limit areas at the trade off of a flexible response to serve the whole community.
0:13:12
At the entire city as the entire city can be under a flash flood risk and the impacts are only known as they are happening, the legislation will force the city to open predesignated sites as well at as well as at a distance from an impacted person's home.
0:13:26
And the journey to that site could be significantly more dangerous than moving to higher ground or going to a known safe location close by to them that they can see as not impacted.
0:13:37
The power of water is tremendous and extremely dangerous.
0:13:40
Therefore, emergency management adamantly opposed the proposed legislation.