By Gus Saltonstall
In what is becoming an all too familiar pattern, it looks like it will be another rainy weekend in New York City.
Tropical Storm Philippe is expected to make landfall in Maine or Canada on Saturday night, but before it does, it is expected to blow in another deluge of rain to the five boroughs.
Forecasters predict up to two inches of heavy rain, as well as thunderstorms, to hit New York City late Friday night and Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
Mayor Eric Adams used X (formerly Twitter) on Friday morning to send out a warning to New Yorkers.
“New Yorkers: periods of heavy rain and potential flooding are forecast late tonight into tomorrow,” he wrote. “We’ve activated the City’s Flash Flood Emergency Plan, proactively staging resources and teams.”
“Heavy rain is expected across NYC tonight through Saturday afternoon, 10/7,” reads an alert that went out from Notify NYC on Friday about the incoming rain. “Help prevent street flooding by clearing leaves and debris from catch basins near your home. If you’re cleaning catch basin grates, be sure to wear gloves & watch out for traffic.”
There is a 50 percent chance of rain on Friday that increases to 80 percent on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. The rain should clear by Sunday, according to forecasters.
The warnings about the weather come one week after the city was drenched with a record-setting rainfall that prompted a State of Emergency and saw some parts of the five boroughs receive more than seven inches of rain.
Mayor Eric Adams faced widespread criticism over the speed of his administration’s response to the rain last Friday, when he did not address the public until noon — after large areas of the city had already been flooded and subways were suspended on a mass scale.
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Someone might remind the Mayor that not everybody uses X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and that his message may not be reaching enough people. Not that the message says much anyway, except for the useful recommendation to wear gloves while cleaning catch basins. “We’ve activated the City’s Flash Flood Emergency Plan, proactively staging resources and teams.” Sounds suspiciously like Bureaucratic BlahBlah.
Who can we nominate to challenge Do-Nothing incompetent Mayor Adams for re-election? All he does is work on expanding his pricey wardrobe, hobnobbing with his mob related pals, and caving in to everything the worst predatory developers want to do in NYC, and now he is spending taxpayer $$$ on a publicity tour down South America to tell the hapless migrants not to come.
If Katherine Garcia had been elected, she’d know just what to do. She’s been there, done that. Bloomberg tapped her to organize and oversee recovery after Hurricane Sandy; DeBlasio put her in charge of food distribution to public schools during pandemic lockdown. She’s now COO of NY State. Maybe we can convince her to run again?
You mean showing up to a third world country in a $90k SUV & $3k suit and telling a guy who ate mud for lunch that NYC doesn’t have anything to offer isn’t a good strategy???
Ever since our new $250,000 a year deputy mayor for communications Fabien Levy held a big press conference to announce his own promotion the Mayor’s already bad communications have definitely gotten worse. And then the Mayor’s out partying the night before the wettest day in the city’s history. Not a good look. I voted for Kathryn Garcia.