Governor Hochul: “Blink and it's there, that is basically how you can describe what a flash flood is.
There is no time to prepare for it, it is something that comes up unexpectedly and can be very, very dangerous.
And so that's what we're up against here today on Long Island…And so what we've already done at the State level is coordinating with local emergency management teams, preparing for the worst.
I've already sent my swiftwater rescue teams to Long Island just in case they're needed.”
Hochul: “Long Island has been battered by Mother Nature incessantly this year.
You think about the brutal winter storms, the blizzard, the incredible heat wave we've just endured and now flash flooding.
And I just want to say it was enormously disappointing for us to learn from Washington that they denied our disaster declaration to get reimbursement for the communities from the snowstorm here on Long Island that we applied for….
And so that's why I just want to say we're here to help. We also need our federal partners…to fight hard for that money and see if they can get the federal government to reverse that decision that is going to hurt the people they represent.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul updated New Yorkers on heavy rains impacting the lower Hudson Valley, New York City, and Long Island and urged New Yorkers to exercise caution due to the potential for flash flooding.
VIDEO: The event is available tostream on YouTube hereandTV quality video is available here.
AUDIO:The Governor's remarks areavailable in audio form here.
PHOTOS:The Governor's Flickr page willpostphotos of the event here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
First, I'd like to address the unfolding weather conditions here on Long Island since it's very much top of mind.
Blink and it's there, that is basically how you can describe what a flash flood is.
There is no time to prepare for it, it is something that comes up unexpectedly and can be very, very dangerous.
And so that's what we're up against here today on Long Island and I just want to talk about the warning of multiple rounds of thunderstorms to bring enough rain for this region for flash flooding and it is not even known where it hits.
And so what we've already done at the State level is coordinating with local emergency management teams, preparing for the worst.
I've already sent my swiftwater rescue teams to Long Island just in case they're needed. It doesn't help if they're in another part of the state if there is a family vehicle that is swirling around in the rain.
I also have to put out a warning, even one foot of water on the street that you think your own vehicle, particularly even an SUV, can barely get through that can turn you into a boat basically.
You can start losing control of the vehicle and it can be washed away very, very easily.
So encouraging everyone to stay away from water on the streets.
If you cannot see the bottom of it, it is probably something you should stay away from.
And as we saw all these storms from Saturday and Sunday, the crews are out cleaning up, the state helping.
The downed trees, the downed power lines over, you know, thousands of people without power, most of it being restored at this time.
But that does not mean that there will not be another event.
We're not expecting as high winds as we had, so if it's just the rain event that we can manage that without the power lines coming down, that may be the silver lining — except we're going to have very, very, very high volumes of water and it's going to impact the fact that the soil is already drenched from the previous rain.
So that's when you can start getting serious conditions and flooding in basements and deterioration on cliffs.
So we have upwards of five inches of snow — you had that already and I'll get to that topic in a minute.
Five inches of rain fall through Thursday and we'll be seeing Long Island and New York City are in the bullseye with a 70 percent chance of flash flooding.
That is real, that is real.
And so, as I've said, we've mobilized the rescue teams.
All of our offices are here, and we're going to make sure that we're safe.
Now let me just step back and I did mention snow.
Long Island has been battered by Mother Nature incessantly this year.
You think about the brutal winter storms, the blizzard, the incredible heat wave we've just endured and now flash flooding.
And I just want to say it was enormously disappointing for us to learn from Washington that they denied our disaster declaration to get reimbursement for the communities from the snowstorm here on Long Island that we applied for.
That was rather shocking, it is very normal for it to be approved routinely, and for some reason it was denied by the administration in Washington.
That's when we saw over three feet of snow in one day in parts of Nassau and Suffolk.
And so that's why I just want to say we're here to help. We also need our federal partners that used to be there for us to step up and continue calling on our elected officials from Washington, here on Long Island — our Congressmembers, to fight hard for that money and see if they can get the federal government to reverse that decision that is going to hurt the people they represent.
So that's the snowstorm, we're dealing with rain, we're dealing with flash floods and so just be vigilant.