Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul is a Guest on Abc 7 to Update New Yorkers on Extreme Weather

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on ABC 7 to update New Yorkers on extreme weather.

AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:

Sade Baderinwa, ABC 7: Governor, thank you for joining us. I know it has been a busy afternoon. What are the hardest hit areas that you’re seeing right now, and what resources are being mobilized?

Governor Hochul: Certainly Queens was the hardest hit with five inches of rain. And that’s where we had a number of vehicles that were submerged, we had to send our Swiftwater Rescue vehicles.

The good news is we saw this coming: we pre-deployed all kinds of assets everywhere in terms of emergency vehicles and generators and ways to restore power if necessary, particularly in the subway. We’ve come to the other side at this point. I just heard your forecast, based on my numbers those are accurate. But we always want to make sure that people are always aware that these events that look like a rain forecast can actually turn into a deadly situation with flash flooding, especially if people are in vehicles and their cars get swept away. Literally just six inches of water can turn your vehicle into a boat. That’s a very unsafe situation.

So we’ve been deploying people, we’ve contacted the 14 counties where we declared a State of Emergency, offering all our services. We have our Operations Center activated with State Police and DEC and all our teams — they’ve done this a lot, unfortunately. This is the sixth emergency order I’ve had to issue just this year alone and it’s only halfway over. So we’re accustomed to this but always counting on the public to pay close attention, that’s why I sent our warnings this morning that despite the morning starting out beautiful and sunny, we knew this was going to happen, it did, but it feels like we’re on the other side at this point.

Mike Marza, ABC 7: Governor Hochul, we appreciate your time. I know you’re super busy, we appreciate you jumping on here and giving us the update. Thank you.

Governor Hochul: Alright. Thank you, everyone.