Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul is a Guest on 1010 WINS to Update New Yorkers on the Weather

Earlier today, Governor Hochul was a guest on 1010 WINS with Lori Madden to update New Yorkers on the upcoming inclement weather.

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Lori Madden, 1010 WINS: And joining us live now on 1010 WINS 92.3 FM is Governor Kathy Hochul. Governor, thank you for joining us this afternoon. We heard from Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine and Governor Sherrill, who have and will be declaring States of Emergency. Tell us about what New York is doing ahead of the storm.

Governor Hochul: Yes, we are declaring a State of Emergency, and what that does is it gives us the ability to, if necessary, clear branches and help restore a lot of, you know, normalcy if we can. We also have our swift water teams and high axle vehicles already deployed. I've pre-deployed them even before the weather started. So it's all about being ready in advance, as well as activating thousands of utility crew members. So if the lines come down, we have the ability to have it restored as soon as the dangerous weather passes.

So we agree with the severity of this. It is real. It is coming. And the coastal areas are particularly vulnerable. We've had to make some decisions already. I know on Long Island we've canceled the Ironman event. I know that was canceled. And we're making some decisions now about tandem trucks, whether or not they're going to be allowed on the bridges. So it's a little bit early, but we're going to be making some decisions on that soon.

So the State of New York is ready. Declaring a State of Emergency allows us to enhance our communications with the public and really get their attention not to take this lightly. And we expect the rain to go all the way through Monday, so this is a multi-day rain event, which is going to saturate the ground even more, which makes trees more vulnerable to falling. And that's what my concern is, by the end of this weekend, this is going to continue on with possible more dangerous tree limbs being down. Again, they have an ability to take down power lines as well as the flooding.

So it's going to be a dangerous event. We've already taken preemptive steps. I've already reached out and spoken to Ed Romaine, the County Executive in Suffolk County. Left a message, but my team has been in communication with the County Executive of Nassau County, Bruce Blakeman, and really have my teams and my emergency teams already embedded in their command centers. But I'm in the city right now. I'll be up in Albany later to monitor what is a multi-county event, not just Long Island, but also Westchester and New York City as well.

Lori Madden, 1010 WINS: Governor, you mentioned the possibility of tree limbs coming down and it, of course, affecting the utilities. Another thing AccuWeather has been telling us is the possibility of a storm surge of one-to-three feet. Are you ready to call for any evacuations in certain areas?

Governor Hochul: That is something we do in conjunction with the local emergency management teams who are literally on the ground and can give us line of sight into what they're seeing. This is where us being in the Emergency Command Centers for the counties affected, it gives us the ability to make that decision if necessary.

And I will tell you, we'll not do anything that would allow for human life or property to be compromised. And so our first priority is making sure we know what's going on, how dangerous it is, and what steps need to be taken to protect people who live there.

Lori Madden, 1010 WINS: Okay, thank you very much. Governor Kathy Hochul joining us this afternoon on 1010 WINS 92.3 FM. And you heard it straight from the Governor, a State of Emergency in effect for New York ahead of the nor'easter.