New York Daily News

Pol to Blaz: It’s not just Manhattan

- BY CHRIS SOMMERFELD­T

Hizzoner needs to get his head out of Manhattan, according to Rep. Max Rose.

The Brooklyn and Staten Islandrepp­ing congressma­n lashed out against Mayor de Blasio on Monday for apparently leaving the outer boroughs out of the city’s preparatio­ns for Tropical Storm Isaias.

“This is not only dangerous, it’s beyond ignorant,” Rose tweeted in response to de Blasio saying he’s primarily concerned about getting lower Manhattan ready for Isaias, which was expected to hit the Big Apple on Tuesday. “My constituen­ts’ homes and streets are often flooded when it rains, never mind a potential hurricane.”

The mayor flaunted his focus on Manhattan during a press briefing from City Hall earlier in the day.

“Of all the parts of this city, one of the places that is the lowest, that has the greatest vulnerabil­ity and the most people and businesses, is lower Manhattan,” de Blasio said after a reporter asked what the city’s doing to prepare for potential flooding in Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.

City Emergency Management Commission­er Deanne Criswell agreed with de Blasio.

“For this particular storm, that’s the area of most concern,” she said.

Rose’s congressio­nal district spans all of Staten Island and a chunk of southern Brooklyn. Parts of the district still bear scars from Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

De Blasio declined via a spokesman to offer a direct response to Rose’s pushback.

However, in an afternoon tweet, de Blasio said his administra­tion is working to secure all of the city’s “vulnerable areas.”

“We’re not taking ANY chances,” he posted.

Isaias is expected to barrel into the city as early as Tuesday at 11 a.m., with tropical storm-force winds and at least 2 to 4 inches of rain.

Emergency Management Department personnel started setting up sandbags along the lower Manhattan waterfront Sunday morning and were expected to have the work done by Monday evening, de Blasio said.

Isaias slammed into the Bahamas and other parts of the Caribbean over the weekend as a hurricane, killing at least two people. It then lost some steam and was downgraded to a tropical storm on Saturday, though it rolled into the Carolinas with hurricane strength Monday afternoon.

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