Dive Brief:
- New York City is rolling out new measures to protect people from this summer’s heat waves, poor air quality and other extreme weather events.
- The city has expanded its cooling center network, revamping an online map of centers and adding pet-friendly facilities through a partnership with PetCo, officials said at a May 30 press conference.
- The city will also distribute indoor thermometers to older adults, allowing them to monitor home temperatures, and give free “cool kits” to delivery and outdoor workers. Cool kits include a cooling towel, cold pack, electrolyte mix and sunscreen.
Dive Insight:
New York City had some tough weather moments in 2023. Wildfire smoke wafting down from Canada brought some of the worst air quality in the world to the city in early June. City officials were criticized by community members who saw the response as slow and uncoordinated. A heat wave hit the city in early September, and later that month, heavy rain flooded streets and the subway.
“We learned a lot from last year,” Mayor Eric Adams said at the May 30 press conference, referencing the city’s new extreme heat preparations. An estimated 350 New Yorkers die prematurely due to hot weather each summer, the city says, with those numbers increasing in the last decade due to hotter summers. Black residents are more likely to face heat-related death than White residents.
This summer, New York City’s emergency response management department released a “Beat the Heat” guide, which instructs readers on how to stay safe during heat waves.
City officials also hope to keep New Yorkers informed about weather and air quality through NotifyNYC, the city’s emergency communications program that delivers messages via email, text message, telephone, an app, social media and American Sign Language videos. However, the service is not being used by residents as much as the city would like, Adams said, which is why it is organizing focus groups to understand how to get more people to sign up for the messages.
To connect those who are homebound with heat safety information, the city is partnering with food delivery organizations. “This is a way, as we deliver food, to deliver information that can prepare them for heat-related emergency,” Adams said.
Another change this summer is that the city’s “Cool Options” online map of cooling centers will be accessible 24/7, year-round, rather than just during heat emergencies. “This allows residents to plan ahead and locate convenient options whenever they need them,” said NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol. “It's available in 13 languages or by calling 311."
With guidance from cities like San Francisco, the city has also developed new internal protocols to improve its response to air quality emergencies, Iscol said. That new protocol will improve agency coordination and public messaging, he said.
