Mayor Eric Adams defended the pace of his administration’s public messaging on heavy rainfall and severe flooding that drenched the city, leaving cars stranded on flooded roads and half the subway system either fully or partially suspended, on Friday.
Several local pols were quick to blast the mayor, believing hizzoner had not communicated about the storm conditions quickly and clearly.
The mayor made his first public appearance and comments on the extreme weather conditions at an 11 a.m. virtual news conference on Friday, which he showed up over 30 minutes late to, several hours after the severe rain began pounding the city. He declared a city state of emergency during the briefing, over an hour after Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a similar statewide emergency declaration.