New York Mayor Eric Adams Blasted for Tepid Response to City Deluge

While New York City faced overwhelmingly heavy rains that caused severe flooding and travel disruptions on Friday, Mayor Eric Adams faced criticism for his delayed response in warning residents.

Adams didn't hold a public briefing until midday Friday, after widespread closures of major roads, the subway system, and an airport terminal had already occurred, noted the New York Times.

Weather experts had forecast severe rainfall as early as Thursday evening, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul had already declared a state of emergency and encouraged residents to stay home.

According to the Times, Adams attended a campaign fundraiser and birthday celebration on Thursday night.

His office later released a "travel advisory" for the storm at 11 p.m., almost 12 hours before he finally addressed the public.

Adams defended his response during his press conference Friday, and claimed that all necessary precautions had been taken and that he had relied on members of his administration to alert city residents, the newspaper reported.

"If anyone was caught off guard, they had to be living under a rock," added Adams during an interview on 1010 WINS on Friday, cited by the Gothamist.

Some critics compared Adam's response this week to the city's lack of preparedness during Hurricane Ida in 2021.

After Ida, Adams had vowed to rethink the city's approach to climate change impacts, the Times noted.

“I think the city needs to be doing much, much more,” said Shekar Krishnan, a city councilman representing the Queens neighborhoods of Jackson Heights and Elmhurst, told the newspaper Friday. “This is a rapidly evolving situation. It’s changing every hour and getting worse.”

This wasn't the first time Adams faced criticism for a delayed response to an emergency.

In a previous incident involving poor air quality from Canadian forest fires, he — and Gov. Hochul — remained silent for 12 hours.