The death toll from this weekend’s bone-chilling winter storm, has climbed to eight, with city officials investigating how so many New Yorkers lost their lives on the streets and whether the deaths were caused by the extreme cold.
Mayor Mamdani said Monday that several of the deceased were found to have had interactions with the city’s homeless shelter system, although its unclear what their status was when they perished. Initial reports over the weekend suggested several of those who died were homeless.
The Medical Examiner has not determined if the deaths were caused by extreme cold, nor has the NYPD released identities. Mamdani said the cause of the deaths are still under investigation.
The deaths came amid a brutal winter storm, with chilling temperatures early in the weekend giving way to heavy snow Sunday. Below-freezing temperatures are expected to continue through the week, and the city’s Code Blue remains in effect.
Barry Williams/ New York Daily News
Pedestrians cross Madison Ave. in the snowstorm on Sunday. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
The city has been under a “Code Blue” warning, with additional outreach teams canvassing the streets to find those who may need medical attention or help getting shelter. During “Code Blue” periods, normal intake shelter procedures are streamlined. In total, outreach workers placed 170 people in city shelters and involuntarily committed three people to city hospitals.
The deaths also come as Mamdani reversed Mayor Adams’ effort to remove homeless people from the streets by dismantling homeless encampments. Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for the mayor, confirmed Monday that the Mamdani administration has not done sweeps.
The death toll climbed to eight Monday. According to the Medical Examiner, six died overnight Friday, 1 overnight Saturday and one overnight Sunday.
Police responded to a call Monday at 8:15 a.m. on Jerome Ave., in the Bronx. Upon arriving, they found a man dead inside Van Cortlandt Park near the Mosholu Golf Course.
“He was found over by the golf course this morning,” a sanitation worker, who was shoveling salt outside the park, told a Daily News reporter. “It’s hard to believe anyone would be out in the open overnight in this cold.”
That victim’s ID and cause of death remains pending.
Police sources also said that at 9 a.m. Monday, a 90-year-old woman was found in the rear of 254 New York Avenue in Brooklyn. The woman, a family member said, suffered from dementia and is believed to have walked out of the building sometime Sunday evening.
“There was no problems with heating, she had dementia,” said the relative. “We noticed she was missing about 8 o’clock this morning. We went looking for her and we couldn’t find her. How she ended up in the backyard, we don’t know.”
The city is not including the Brooklyn victim in the death toll of people who died on the streets as it is not clear where she was found.
Authorities have not released her cause of death.
Mamdani offered his sympathy to the families of those who died.
“I send my deepest condolences to the families and the loved ones of those New Yorkers that lost their lives,” Mamdani said at a weather briefing Monday. “Any loss of life is truly a tragedy, and that’s why we’re continuing to urge New Yorkers to get to a safe and warm location.”
Mamdani urged citydwellers to call 311 if they say anyone in need of help. Those call are being automatically rerouted to 911, Mamdani said.
ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images
Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives at a news conference about the snowstorm on Saturday. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images)
“I want to be very, very clear that we are not out of the woods yet,” said Zach Iscol, the city’s emergency management commissioner. “We still have a lot of work to do. Dangerous weather conditions persist throughout the week, with frigid temperatures placing utilities and infrastructure under pressure, and vulnerable New Yorkers remain at risk.”
With Roni Jacobson
