The nation’s top weather honchos are predicting the seventh-in-a-row “above average” Atlantic hurricane season this year, and Mayor Eric Adams is urging New Yorkers to get prepared.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday forecasted that the 2022 season could see upwards of 21 “named storms,” where winds are measured at higher than 39 miles per hour and storms are given names. Of those, between 3 and 6 could be “major hurricanes,” between categories 3 and 5, with sustained winds higher than 111 mph.
That could potentially mean more tempests like Superstorm Sandy, which devastated the New York City region nearly a decade ago, or Hurricane Ida, which last year brought historic floods and left 13 people dead across the five boroughs, mostly those living in basement apartments.
“It’s never too early to prepare for the devastating impacts of hurricanes,” said NOAA administrator Rick Spinrad at a press conference with Adams in Brooklyn on Tuesday. “It only takes one storm to damage your home, neighborhood, and community. Preparedness is key to the resilience that we need.”
With another major storm season on its way, the city’s emergency management team is renewing a push to ensure preparedness ahead of the next deluge. The city is buying a litany of ads online, on transit, in newspapers, and on storefronts encouraging New Yorkers to learn which, if any, of the six evacuation zones they live in, and what to do in the event of an evacuation. More than 3 million New Yorkers live in one of the six zones, with those in low-lying coastal areas at the highest risk.
“When it comes to coastal storms, hurricanes, and floods, preparation is everything,” Adams said. “Every New Yorker should know their zone.”
New Yorkers can look up their zone at nyc.gov/knowyourzone.
