Gary Szatkowski, who was a prime federal forecaster in New Jersey throughout Hurricane Sandy, known as out New York politicians for suggesting that
Gary Szatkowski, who was a prime federal forecaster in New Jersey throughout Hurricane Sandy, known as out New York politicians for suggesting that forecasters have been unable to foretell the occasions and depth of Ida’s threats.
“The politicians are fallacious,” Szatkowski mentioned throughout a Friday night interview on CNBC’s “The Information with Shepard Smith.” “There was numerous warning, there have been numerous forecasts, numerous warnings issued on the subject of Ida because it got here into the area with the potential for heavy rainfall.”
At the least 13 folks within the New York Metropolis space have been killed because the remnants of Hurricane Ida slammed town with document rain and flooding. New York Metropolis Mayor Invoice de Blasio reiterated Friday that metropolis officers had no concept what was about to hit New York on Wednesday evening.
“Here is what we didn’t know, that we’d have actually surprising and unprecedented rainfall,” de Blasio mentioned throughout a media availability. “We had a one-hour interval Wednesday evening that set the all-time document for a single hour within the historical past, the recorded historical past of New York Metropolis, and nobody projected that coming.”
Szatkowski pointed to accurate predictions from meteorologists and climate consultants forward of the storm for dangerous, even fatal rainfall in the New York area.
He additionally famous that New York officers might have merely “regarded to their west” to see what was occurring and ship warnings to residents hours earlier than the rain landed within the metropolis.
“There was flash flooding, torrential rainfall, water rescues first, in Pennsylvania, then into Philadelphia itself, after which to New Jersey, after which it got here into New York Metropolis, and there’s hours and hours, you possibly can watch this coming towards New York Metropolis, and be ready and concentrate on what was about to occur,” mentioned Szatkowski, a former meteorologist with the Nationwide Climate Service.
Mayor de Blasio’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark
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