Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) held a press briefing on Tuesday to discuss the "dangerous" heat wave that will impact much of the United States this week.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Even as early as Tuesday, so I wanted everyone to know how we're taking steps to make sure everyone is.
00:05This takes an all of government approach, so I have my dream team on.
00:11We've been with us through too many extreme events in the last 2 and a half years.
00:16Hurricanes, blizzards, 1000 year flooding events, air quality challenges. So I have the best.
00:23Right here in New York City, I have commissioner Jackie break commissioner of homeland security and emergency services and former chief of staff. So the national weather services. So this is the Super Bowl of weather events.
00:34Catherine Garcia, the director of state operations, who's been at my side to all of these disasters. I appreciate her expertise joining us on zoom or Dr. James McDonald, the commissioner of health, because this is an event that is going to affect people's health and Rory Christian, the chair of the public service committee to give the public updates.
00:53On how they can be involved in helping preserve our energy consumption during this time and what we're doing in terms of resiliency. So, in a couple of moments, I'll ask commissioner Brady to give us an update on the latest forecast from the national.
01:07And some of this is from the state weather risk communication center that we just unveiled last year, which is giving us real time data. Like, we've never had before. So.
01:18We don't need any fancy data to tell us this. It's going to be extremely hot and uncomfortable. In fact, it'll be dangerously hot. That is something I want everyone to keep in their minds when they're thinking about their families, their friends, their neighbors and their pets.
01:32I know New Yorkers are tough. We think we can handle it all without breaking a sweat and we probably will, but we'll be able to get through this because we'll be prepared. But that will be different by so many measurements.
01:45As I said, the real feel feels like temperature is going to be over 100 degrees, even starting today in upstate New York. This event is largely focus. As you can see from the screens behind me that purple purple means extremely dangerous.
02:00That is along the I, 90 through a corridor from Buffalo all the way to Albany and points in between. So, every region of upstate is going to be hit with this over 100 degree real field.
02:11And even up on the Canadian border, which rarely sees these high temperatures.
02:16They'll have at least 4 days of a mass field temperatures of over 100 degrees up on the Canadian border. So.
02:23How are we preparing this is an all of government approach and we need to focus all of our energy on protecting the health and safety of New Yorkers.
02:331st of all, do we have the right equipment and personnel in place to handle any circumstance that arises.
02:39Today, we're opening the state's emergency operations center, which is a statewide hub to monitor conditions and share resources. And this includes constant communication with our county leaders.
02:51I have been in contact with major principles across this corridor yesterday, letting them know that we are ready to help them. They had a call with their emergency team and my emergency team just yesterday as well.
03:02So, we want to make sure that they're ready to be able to staff all their cooling centers, have the water they need taking care of.
03:09Focusing on anywhere we can be helpful to them as well. In addition.
03:14Yesterday, I activated the National Guard guardsman station now in Syracuse and Albany ready to assist and be deployed wherever they are needed.
03:24And as I said, we reached out to the emergency management personnel in all 62 counties.
03:29Reminding them to have direct communication with their constituents as well. This also includes communication with our utility companies to minimize the risk of brownouts or.
03:40More from that from Rory Christian, the chair of the public service commission and a couple of minutes. Laser focused on public health.
03:47This is a time of significant risk, and we're doing our best to make sure that all lives are protected. But as we reported before.
03:56It is of all the weather events that have happened and can happen, and this is becoming.
04:06We know that heat events, loss of life from heat stroke, for example, is the number 1.
04:14These events, and so we're for the thing from.
04:17Well,
04:19do opening guidance to hospitals and nursing homes.
04:22We also have a map of on of our websites of all the cooling centers to make sure people can take time to find 1 near them.
04:29Agencies that oversees the congregate settings, like office of mental health, office of people at developmental disabilities are focused right now on making sure all the residents are safe.
04:40And when it comes to our children, every parents worry.
04:44I have, I know that many school districts have already canceled or delay classes during this heat wave and we're encouraging all the districts to closely monitor the conditions. Make sure that shouldn't have access to water all day.
04:57Stay hydrated and really avoid playing outside indirect sunlight where young body become dehydrated so quickly and overcome with the heat department of environmental conservation.
05:08Health department are also monitoring the air quality and will continue to give air quality health alerts as we have this confluence of the heat, but also extreme humidity, which can compromise the air quality.
05:19So, today we're announcing that we'll be issuing an alert for ozone in New York City, lower Hudson and Western New York regions from 11 am to 11 PM. We'll be continuing to update that.
05:29Concerned about our own workforce state workers through a workers, they're on modified schedules to protect those who have to work outdoors and I encourage private employers to make similar accommodations.
05:41And here's the fun 1, we're opening our pools and beaches a little bit early. Tomorrow is a federal holiday and observance of Juneteenth. So everyone will be home. Take your kids to the state parks and the beaches and have a good chance to cool off and refreshing water.
05:56And so families have a safe place to cool off and beat the heat only swim. No, if there's a lifeguard on duty and take precautions in the water. Now, a couple of safety tips before I turn it over to the team.
06:08I cannot emphasize enough that extreme heat can be deadly.
06:13New Yorkers need to know how to stay safe.
06:17Dr McDonald will share some of his tips on how to spot heat stroke how to avoid in the 1st place, but stay indoors. Stay with your conditioning. You don't have a seat.
06:27Go to a library, a government building or a cooling center near you go to our website and find a cooling center, make a plan. So you're ready. No matter what happens.
06:36If you have to be outdoors, stay heavily hydrated, drink water all day long, avoid caffeine and alcohol as well, which can be dehydrating. So, let's remember, we look out for each other. That's what New Yorkers do.
06:50Not just our own families, but your neighbors, the elderly medically vulnerable individuals that may live near you.
06:57And, of course, our pets look to us for their own survival during conditions like this. So make sure that they are safe. Do not leave them in a hot car. That can be devastating. So take care of our kids, elderly pets, everything we love.
07:10And also, I want to thank your health care workers and emergency responders. Whenever you see them, they're going to be out there. They don't take days off just because it's hot out. So, if you see them, they'll be uncomfortable, but hopefully they'll be getting through this with the support of our entire community, a grateful community.
07:26And the worst should be over by Saturday. Stay safe, stay hydrated and stay cool. Now, with that, let me turn it over to Commissioner Bray for an update on what to anticipate. Commissioner Bray.
07:37Thank you, ma'am. Appreciate that. As the governor said, we're expecting 4 days of extreme heat. I just want to run through a little bit region specific. The worst heat will be in a bit of a triangle.
07:51If you think of Albany down to Ithaca over to Rochester feels like temps, 103 to 107 today. Albany and Plattsburgh themselves feels like temps at 100 today. The Plattsburgh temp, while the temperature we have seen before, no 1 at the weather service can remember a feels like temp on our Canadian border of 100, which they will see for some time this week.
08:19For New York City and Long Island, the heat will be worse later in the week. So, Thursday, Friday, the heat shifts south and east while the next couple of days will be no joke for them.
08:32Thursday and Friday will be particularly concerning for New York City and Long Island, but over the next 4 days, everywhere across the state feels like temps over the mid 90s.
08:45Today is the hottest, but the worst.
08:49Heat risks will be felt in New York on Wednesday and Thursday and as the governor said, this is really a new normal for us. And so we need to be good and get good about dealing with heat. So I want to add a little bit of detail here.
09:04Heat risk is cumulative, which means that 1 very hot day, which these regions have seen several times becomes less of an issue both for our energy grid and for human health than several very hot days and 4 very hot days is really on at this level is really something we don't see in these cities.
09:26So, think about heat risk, think about the cumulative nature. Number 1, number 2, early season heat is more dangerous than late season heat. We are actually good at acclimatizing. We are good at getting used to the heat, but this is very early to have this level of heat in the state and that will make it more dangerous.
09:45And number 3, there will be no real nighttime relief. Nighttime temps will stay up in the 70s, 75 or higher. And that means that our bodies won't have the chance to get that relief cool down and it will make it a more dangerous event.
10:04As the governor says, we are prepared. I want to give some folks people helpful links and helpful phone numbers.
10:11211 statewide and 311 where it is available will have the addresses and the locations of cooling centers across the state. So if you need help, if you need to get to air conditioning, those are 2 great numbers. 211311.
10:25You can sign up for alerts at alert.ny.gov to get real time information right on your phone.
10:33You can find cooling centers at health.ny.gov backslash cooling centers.
10:40You can find air quality information at air now.gov.
10:44And you can find the maps that we're using the heat risk, which is actually new this year to the East Coast at W. C. P. dot. N. C. E. P. dot. N. O. A. dot. Gov. Backslash heat risk. And all of those links are on our website.
11:01Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Bray. And now we'll hear from Rory Christian, the chair and CEO of the public service commission about steps that his agency has been taking.
11:13Thank you governor. Thank you. Jackie for the overview. So we at the Department of public service have been tracking electric system conditions and overseeing utility response to any situations that may arise as a result of this week's excessive heat.
11:28Again, we're in direct contact with utility leaders and are ensuring that they're taking the necessary steps to prepare their teams and have their 5500 staff on hand to address any issues that arise.
11:41I assure you all that right now, the system is stable and plan maintenance deferred until the conclusion of the event. We're also pausing excavation activity to ensure that there are no accidental incidents that can cause additional problems.
11:56Um, now, as pointed out earlier, what's unique about this event is the timing and its duration. It's happening earlier in the year at a point where we're not used to it.
12:09But the system as a whole is built to handle the worst that we can throw at it. But again, the longer the situation last, the more extreme this stress on the system, the more likely there will be damage to the system.
12:23And again, the combination of high energy use and high temperature will place stresses on the system that can cause isolated damage and outages.
12:34We know through working with the New York ISO, we have ample generation available to meet our needs, but these isolated outages will need to be addressed if they occur. And again, this is part of our work with the utilities.
12:47Equipment and the processes in place to address any issues as they arise.
12:54We're taking a number of preemptive steps in working with utilities again, in addition to having crews and the equipment to deal with any.
13:02Arise, we're also taking preemptive steps to do voltage reduction in certain areas where needed to reduce the stress on.
13:10And we're doing active cooling of transformers, essentially.
13:13Spraying them now with water, putting up shading to ensure that these equipment can work in the higher than normal and higher than expected.
13:21Temperatures now, in terms of what we can all do again, using less energy will go a long way towards us weathering this particular event.
13:29Um, close drapes, windows and doors to try to keep the solar heat from building up in your home. This will keep you cool. Keep you comfortable.
13:39To the degree, you can keep your temperature as comfortable as possible. Try to keep your air conditioner set point in the mid to high 70s was particularly given the length and direction.
13:52It's critically important also to the degree you can seal any openings in your windows or any gaps around the air conditioner to minimize the loss of cooling.
14:03You want to cool your home at the outside environment. So these are just a few of many steps that you can take information's available online.
14:11And if you don't have an air conditioner in your home, there are a number of cooling centers available throughout the state as commissioner break pointed out dial 2 1 1 for that information throughout the state.
14:21And in New York City, dial 3 1 1 again, we're taking this particular events very seriously. It's unique and that is happening earlier in the year.
14:30And that can go a long way towards minimizing any potential impacts.
14:35Thank you. Thank you. Chairman Christian for the update on how we're managing what we anticipate to be higher than usual.
14:43Pressure on our energy grid, but also what we can do personally as individuals in terms of if you're not home at your apartment, why would you leave the air conditioning on all day? If there's no pets at home?
14:54So, doing your laundry late at night, early in the morning, turning on the dishwasher late at night early morning, all of us can be cognizant. These are actually good practices all the time.
15:03But particularly now, when there'll be additional pressure by high use of air conditioning from companies and individuals during this heat wave over this week. So we can make sure that we have the resiliency and the energy generation that we need to get through this.
15:16So, thank you and your agency for all the great work they're doing also the effect on human beings. So, let's hear.