Most NYC storm victims believed to have died after cold exposure

By MIHIR ZAVERI and DANA RUBINSTEIN

A fuller picture emerged Wednesday of the victims of the severe weather continuing to afflict New York City, with city officials revealing that one man was found dead just steps from a Bronx hospital and that exposure to the cold played a role in seven of the 10 deaths.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who announced those initial findings, said that six of the 10 were known to the city’s Department of Homeless Services. It was not clear if they had lived in shelters.

The revelation that one man died just outside a hospital, St. Barnabas in the Bronx, on Saturday and a previous announcement that a man had been found at a playground in Queens on Sunday with hospital discharge papers in his pocket reinforced long-standing concerns about when and where people are discharged during severe weather, especially if they have no safe place to go.

It was not immediately clear Wednesday whether the 60-year-old man who was found dead outside St. Barnabas had been a patient there. The hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

More broadly, the death toll raised questions about whether New York City could have done more to protect the homeless.

Dave Giffen, the executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, said hospitals typically have to coordinate with social services workers before releasing people who they believe might be homeless.

This week, Jessica Ramos, a state senator representing parts of Queens, said a man was found at a playground in her district with discharge papers in his pocket from Elmhurst Hospital, a city facility.

A spokesperson for Health and Hospitals said patient privacy laws precluded him from commenting on a patient’s care. He added that the hospital system does not discharge patients without confirming a shelter location or helping to arrange a shelter destination during extreme weather events.

On Tuesday, after revealing the new death toll during a news conference at City Hall, Mamdani posted a video to social media reminding New Yorkers to look out for their neighbors during the extreme cold.

“If you see someone out in the cold who looks like they may need help, please call 311,” he said, referring to the city’s informational hotline.

The rest of the video outlined the steps the Mamdani administration has taken to help protect New Yorkers from the cold — including enhanced homeless outreach efforts and new warming centers.

In the video, Mamdani said, “Our city is in the midst of what may be the longest stretch of below freezing temperatures in recorded history.”

Some meteorologists offered a more conservative analysis.

David Wally, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said that in 2018 there was a 14-day stretch of temperatures at or below freezing. As of Wednesday, New York City was on Day 5.