Agony lingers for those who have no heat
HOW LOW CAN it go? Get ready to find out.
The brutally cold winter weather of the brand new year was due to bottom out early Sunday as temperatures plunged yet again— and city officials said the frigid conditions already killed one man and left another in grave condition. Gusts as high as nearly 25 mph could drive the wind chill to an arctic level of between minus-5 and minus-10 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
The all-time Jan. 7 low is 4 degrees, set in 2014, a number that could be at risk before the bone-chilling freeze finally breaks — with the mercury rising into the 20s on Sunday and the 30s on Monday.
“There are signs of at least a temporary pattern change next week,” said AccuWeather chief meteorologist Elliot Abrams.
On Saturday police found two victims of the winter “bomb cyclone” that brought havoc to the city — a man who died on a Bronx street in the morning and another who was discovered unconscious in his car in Queens hours later.
Cops responding to a 911 call in the Bronx found the 51-year-old victim lying face down on the cold concrete at the corner of East Gun Hill Rd. and Young Ave. in Williamsbridge around 5:30 a.m., authorities said. Police believe the man was homeless. He was taken to Jacobi Medical Center, where he died.
Five hours later, cops came upon a man lying motionless in the back seat of a Jeep parked at a McDonald’s parking lot on 55th Rd. near Borden Ave. in Maspeth around 10:40 a.m.
Police had to break a window to get the victim out, authorities said. Medics rushed him to Elmhurst Hospital where he is in critical condition. The man had been sitting in the car for days, sources said.
Before the Big Apple and surrounding areas get a desperately-needed respite,temperatures in the suburbs of Westchester County and northern New Jersey were expected to fall to zero going into Sunday morning.
The overnight temperature in Central Park dropped Saturday to 8 degrees, falling well short of the Jan. 6 record of minus 2 set in 1896.
The area’s wind chill advisory remains in effect through 8 a.m. Sunday, with warnings of possible frostbite and hypothermia for anyone venturing outdoors.
The comparatively milder weather comes with a forecast of snow and freezing rain starting Monday morning. Meteorologists warned of a possible 1-inch frosting that could turn local roads slippery.
But the overall forecast going forward was far more encouraging. “Temperatures should rebound into the lower to possibly middle 30s,” the weather service predicted for most of next week.
Monday is expected to be the first day with above freezing temperatures in 2018. In the five boroughs, temperatures were expected to climb into the 40s — a relatively balmy level after last week’s deep freeze.
The latest spate of frigid weather arrived with Thursday’s storm with whipping winds and up to a foot of snow in sections of the city. A PAIR OF PAJAMAS just won’t cut it for Tyisha Palmer this winter.
The heat inside her Wise Towers apartment went out in mid-December, leaving the 41-year-old Upper West Sider to bundle up dramatically each night.
“I’ve got an electric blanket, a bathrobe and two Snuggies,” said Palmer on a Saturday when the temperature plunged to a bitterly cold 8 degrees. “And pants, long pajamas. That’s how I’ve been going to bed.”
Palmer sleeps with the oven on, too, in her efforts to stay warm though the night in her chilly New York City Housing Authority apartment.
She was hardly alone, as city Controller Scott Stringer reported Saturday that more than 30 NYCHA developments had problems with heat and hot water during the frigid snap that arrived with the new year.
“Boilers are breaking down, thousands of New Yorkers are trapped in their own homes, in the cold — by their own government,” said Stringer, promising an audit of the building heating systems.
“We’re going to do a top-to-bottom review to understand why these breakdowns are happening and who is responsible.”
A check by Stringer’s office in the last six months of 2017 indicated nearly four in 10 NYCHA boilers had some type of defect.
Emi Pacheco, 45, of the Harborview Terrace Houses in Hell’s Kitchen, seals her windows with plastic and turns on all four stove burners to keep her apartment livable.
“We usually have the stove on,” said Pacheco, who lives with her two sons — ages 14 and 26. “Today when I turned it off, I actually felt the cold.”
NYCHA spokeswoman Jasmine Blake said the agency was responding to the avalanche of gripes.
“Our staff is working 24/7 to combat this extraordinary cold spell that has battered the city,” she said Saturday. “This weekend we are focused on ensuring heat is on in all NYCHA developments.
“We will cooperate fully with Comptroller Stringer as we all want the same thing: safe, clean and connected communities for all New York City public housing residents.”
The biggest problem in fixing NYCHA’s heating crisis in an aging infrastructure. The agency needs $2 billion in funding just to repair its creakiest boilers.