Angry New York City residents fumed at Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Ortez and Mayor Bill de Blasio about the lack of warning as they toured a Queens neighborhood to survey damage left in the wake of Hurricane Ida, which killed 13 people in the city.
On Monday, De Blasio, AOC and Senator Chuck Schumer visited Woodside five days after the flood hit the city without warning, with rain falling more than three inches every hour and causing New York City's first ever flash flood emergency.
The visit came on the same day President Joe Biden approved major disaster declarations for New York and New Jersey, which greenlights the use of FEMA funds after $85 million was lost in public infrastructure and property in the two states.
More than 40 people were killed as the Hurricane hit both states last week.
But as AOC and De Blasio toured Woodside, where nine people were killed, angry residents railed against them.
'I don't blame climate change, I blame the mayor,' Woodside resident Danette Rivera told the New York Post.
'There was absolutely no warning. I wasn't expecting water from my own drain to be the one that's going to kill me.'
Senators Schumer, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Mayor de Blasio went on a tour surveying Ida's devastation in Woodside Queens
Mayor de Blasio was heckled and received with outrage from Woodside residents who feel the city's response to emergency was flawed
'Many of these deaths occurred in basement dwellings, many of which are illegal and growing in number due to the unaffordable housing crisis, but do not meet safety standards required to keep people safe in incidents like flash floods' said AOC about the 11 New Yorkers who died trapped in basements during Ida
AOC and Schumer, members of FEMA announced that families affected by Ida could receive up to $34,000 in federal grants that won't need to be repaired
Angry residents heckled and blamed de Blasio for the city's unpreparedness in the face of hte storm last week, and were infuriated by AOC's attempt to pin the blame on climate change.
'This storm has now rewritten the map,' De Blasio said on Monday.
'We used to think that flooding was a coastal thing. It's not anymore. It can happen all over the city.'
'We needed more advance notice from the National Weather Service,' she said when asked if de Blasio had done enough to warn New Yorkers about the storm
A this home in the corner of Laurel Hill boulevard, a family of three people drowned in a basement apartment. Two middle aged adults and a 2-year-old were found inside
'They swore that it wouldn't happen again, and that they would fix the sewers.
'Nine people died in this neighborhood. What does it take for them to do something? You know how politics are. It's never about the people,' Woodside resident Isabella Lizal told the New York Daily.
AOC refused to criticize de Blasio when asked if he adequately warned New Yorkers about the storms.
'We needed more advance notice from the National Weather Service,' she said.
The NWS had tweeted a warning at 3.23pm on Wednesday.
A flood emergency was issued almost six hours later, at 9:30pm, with only one hour notice for the emergency.
Ocasio-Ortez tweeted about the deaths in New York that occurred when people were trapped in fast-filling basement apartments as they tried to escape.
'How the climate crisis is an inequality crisis: Many of these deaths occurred in basement dwellings, many of which are illegal and growing in number due to the unaffordable housing crisis, but do not meet safety standards required to keep people safe in incidents like flash floods' she said on September 2, a day after the storm.
'These are working class, immigrant, and low-income people & families,' she added.
More federal aid is expected for people in six New Jersey counties and five New York counties affected by devastating flooding last week from the remnants of the hurricane after President Biden approved major disaster declarations.
Families affected by the hurricane could receive up to $34,000 in FEMA federal grants that won't need to be repaid.
