At least 10 New Yorkers were found dead outdoors as below-freezing temperatures and a bruising snowstorm gripped the Big Apple over the weekend, officials said Tuesday.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani revealed the grim death toll since Saturday though it was unclear how many of those fatalities were directly related to the tundra-like conditions.
“The cold is this deadly, we need to meet the moment and leave no stone unturned,” he said at a Tuesday press conference.
“And we are mobilizing every resource at our disposal to ensure that New Yorkers are brought indoors during this potentially lethal weather event,” he added.
The democratic socialist said city shelters were loosening intake protocols to get more homeless people inside quicker and the city has requested hospitals limit overnight discharges.
Another 10 warming shelters were also opened and city workers and non-profits are also ramping up outreach efforts, he said.
While the mayor’s death count was 10, the NYPD listed nine deaths as of early Tuesday morning.
Three people each were found dead in Queens and Brooklyn, two people were found dead in Manhattan and one person was found dead in the Bronx, according to the NYPD.
The causes of their deaths remain under investigation, but Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park said at the press conference that a number of the victims previously used the city’s shelter system.