STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
New York State is at the center of this week's nor'easter, and we've called Governor Kathy Hochul for an update. Governor, welcome to the program.
KATHY HOCHUL: Thank you very much, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK, so where are you? What's it like there, and where is hardest hit?
HOCHUL: Well, because it's a state-wide event - so primarily Long Island, New York City and Hudson Valley, but we also have some storms elsewhere - I am at our Albany Command Center and able to monitor really state-of-the-art cameras that show us what's happening on the roads as we speak. We just changed our technology about a year ago, and it has been extraordinary that I can see where every single snow plower is. I can call up - I can just push an image on a map, and I can see what every snowplow is doing. I can see out their front window. But also, we were on this storm days ago. I was actually at the National Governors meeting in Washington, cut that...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
HOCHUL: ...Short on Saturday morning to come back and deployed assets even before the first snowflake fell. And that's - we are in a better position now to manage what is happening, which is an epic snowstorm. I mean, I'm from Buffalo.
INSKEEP: Yeah (laughter).
HOCHUL: I know a major snowstorm when I see one. This is a big one.
INSKEEP: I understand the commuter trains have been suspended on Long Island and across the Hudson in New Jersey. That's a suggestion of how seriously people are taking this, I guess.
HOCHUL: For sure. And we told people to stay off the roads, and I want to thank New Yorkers for heading our warnings. I think a lot of people just stayed home and watched Olympic Gold hockey yesterday morning and hopefully watching the replays all day today because we want people to continue to stay home. That allows us to do our job clearing the roads with the snow plows in a safer way. And also just not to have what we've seen in many instances where people can literally freeze to death walking outside. The commuter lines are, of course, as you would expect during a blizzard of this scale, some delays, some postponed. There is no way we should be having a rail line going during those horrific conditions, but we want to restore power and our services as soon as possible.
INSKEEP: I just want to note when you have a nor'easter, you have to worry about snow, if it's a wintertime event, you have to worry about wind, as you clearly are. You also have to worry about flooding, don't you?
HOCHUL: Yes. We have coastal flooding warnings out Southern Westchester County, New York City, our coastal areas, as well as all of Long Island. And so we're monitoring that closely. What I'm most worried about right now are the power outages. This is an unusually heavy, wet snow that's, you know, it's not the light, fluffy snow that you can easily shovel. It is creating significant weight and pressure on our power lines. And when they come down and it's too dangerous for our utility crews to go up on the line, you know, literally up in the air on the poles and restore it, it could be a significant amount of time before the power is restored, despite our best efforts.
INSKEEP: Let me ask a somewhat longer-term question, even though you're in the middle of it. You mentioned power outages, you mentioned fire hydrants freezing up. Snowstorm by snowstorm this winter, what are you learning about your state's resiliency and what needs to improve for the future?
HOCHUL: I think we have learned lessons, and as a governor from Buffalo, I have been through more blizzards than probably any governor in the entire country. And so I have the best snow fighting teams in America. I mean, there's always a tabletop exercise afterward to, you know, after action, to say, what did we do best? What did we do, you know, that could have been better? But I am proud of my crews and my teams and my national experts on how to manage snow fighting here. And we're helping all of our localities. I've been in communication with the mayor of New York City. This is, you know, a highly unusual snow event, and they hit the record books.
INSKEEP: New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, pleasure talking with you. Thanks.
HOCHUL: Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
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