Dangers of Hypothermia Spread as Wind Chill Dips
Friday, January 03, 2014
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Diego Ramos, who is homeless and lives under nearby building scaffolding, pauses as he clears a sidewalk. (Spencer Platt/Getty)
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It's Code Blue in New York City as the wind chill factor threatened to dip below zero late Friday and early Saturday.
New York City officials said they are sending out extra vans to
encourage the homeless to take refuge indoors and have issued a "Code
Blue" city-wide. The designation means that homeless adults can be
admitted to the shelter system without applying and keeps drop-in
centers open throughout the day.
The National Weather Service predicted lows of about 5 degrees Farenheit overnight. Forecasters said wind gusts reaching up to 30 miles per hour would make it feel even several degrees colder, and raising the dangers of hypothermia. The frigid temperatures are expected to ease later on Saturday.
Lisa Black, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeless Services, said that two or three vans in each of the city's five boroughs have been making rounds to locations where the homeless normally gathered. That compares to just one van normally. In extreme cases, homeless individuals can be forcibly taken off the street, Black said, but otherwise, outreach workers try to convince people to go to a shelter or other warm place.
"Some of them, we just gave them coffee, or they went into a local Dunkin' Donuts or a local business," Black said. As long as we knew they were safe and warm, that was our job, to get them off the streets."
The weather posed the first test for Mayor Bill de Blasio, who as public advocate in 2010 criticized then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his handling of a large snowstorm. De Blasio dispatched hundreds of plows and salt spreaders on the streets as soon as the snow started falling Thursday night.
"I feel great about the response," de Blasio said Friday after shoveling the sidewalk outside his Brooklyn home. "We are vigilant. We are not out of this yet. As a great man said, `It's not over until it's over.' But I like what I see in terms of the rigor and the intensity of the city response."
The Coalition for the Homeless has a list of shelters that are operating.
The National Weather Service predicted lows of about 5 degrees Farenheit overnight. Forecasters said wind gusts reaching up to 30 miles per hour would make it feel even several degrees colder, and raising the dangers of hypothermia. The frigid temperatures are expected to ease later on Saturday.
Lisa Black, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeless Services, said that two or three vans in each of the city's five boroughs have been making rounds to locations where the homeless normally gathered. That compares to just one van normally. In extreme cases, homeless individuals can be forcibly taken off the street, Black said, but otherwise, outreach workers try to convince people to go to a shelter or other warm place.
"Some of them, we just gave them coffee, or they went into a local Dunkin' Donuts or a local business," Black said. As long as we knew they were safe and warm, that was our job, to get them off the streets."
The weather posed the first test for Mayor Bill de Blasio, who as public advocate in 2010 criticized then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his handling of a large snowstorm. De Blasio dispatched hundreds of plows and salt spreaders on the streets as soon as the snow started falling Thursday night.
"I feel great about the response," de Blasio said Friday after shoveling the sidewalk outside his Brooklyn home. "We are vigilant. We are not out of this yet. As a great man said, `It's not over until it's over.' But I like what I see in terms of the rigor and the intensity of the city response."
The Coalition for the Homeless has a list of shelters that are operating.
Cuomo
says a system approaching from the west could drop a foot of snow on
upstate New York. And a coastal storm may bring heavy snow and blizzard
conditions here to the New York City area, especially on Long Island.
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