Extreme Cold Responsible For 18 Deaths In Democrat-Led City

Go to Article

18 people have died in New York City due to bitterly cold temperatures, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.

Freezing temperatures have impacted the five boroughs since a major snowstorm hit the area.

According to CBS News, Mamdani said it was warmer in some parts of Antarctica compared to New York City.

“Since Friday’s press conference, one additional New Yorker lost their life on the streets of our city as a result of this cold snap. The total lives lost is now 18. Each life lost is a tragedy, and we will continue to hold their families in our thoughts,” he said, according to the outlet.

CBS News shared further:

He continued to urge those experiencing homelessness to head to a shelter. Mamdani said 1,400 placements have been made into shelters and safe havens. Thirty-three New Yorkers have also been involuntarily transported for their safety.

He also said that across this past Friday and Saturday nights, 560 New Yorkers used Health + Hospitals warming centers, and nearly 300 New Yorkers used a Department of Social Services warming vehicle.

“Until temperatures warm up, I ask all of you in this room and outside of it to please continue to take additional precautions. Stay safe, stay indoors, and please, New York, let’s keep looking out for one another,” the mayor said.

He said some of the deaths also involved drugs, and the city is partnering with two overdose prevention centers to stay open and handle more cases.

The latest victim was identified as an 86-year-old homeless man, whose body was found Saturday morning in The Bronx.

A 26-year-old man said he felt helpless after finding the unresponsive man on the sidewalk, according to the New York Post.

More from the New York Post:

Faad, a security worker at a homeless shelter who was volunteering at one of the city’s “warming centers” on Saturday, said he spotted the man, who looked asleep, on the street while on his way to his mosque.

He doubled back after prayers and called 911 when he noticed the man wasn’t breathing.

“I say maybe he’s just sleeping. But it was cold, freezing outside,” Faad recalled in an interview on Monday.

“I feel bad because I’m on my way to help homeless people, and I find this guy, and I couldn’t help him.”

It marked the latest tragic death from the weekslong deep freeze that saw temperatures plummet to below -15 degrees with the brutal wind chill this past weekend.

Leading into the coldest few nights of the year, Mamdani had faced calls to do more to get homeless people to safety inside — voluntarily or unwillingly — as reports emerged of snafus with the city’s mobile warming centers.

The more than a dozen buses meant to help people warm up were scattered across the city, oftentimes not located where they were supposed to be or difficult to track down.

And even when the warming buses were parked where the city said they would be, there was little to no signage pointing freezing New Yorkers to their location.

“I gave Mamdani administration an A for intent but a C for implementation,” said civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, who has been volunteering to help homeless New Yorkers on the cold nights.

CBS New York provided video coverage:



Comment on this Article Via Your Disqus Account