Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Visits Storm Ravaged City of Rome and Updates New Yorkers on State Response to Severe Weather Impacts

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul visited the City of Rome to inspect damage caused by severe winds that caused extensive damage in the region and provided updates on the state's response to the severe storms that have impacted the state over the last two weeks. Last night, the Governor declared a statewide State of Emergency in response to severe weather impacting communities across New York.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

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

Good morning. I'm Governor Kathy Hochul. On what can only be described as a tragic day here in Oneida County in the city of Rome, I'm joined by the County Executive, Tony Picente, who I've worked with through many crises - but this is the worst event to ever hit the City of Rome in its long 228-year history.

Also, a Mayor who's fairly new on the job but is now seasoned in dealing with disasters, that is our Mayor, Jeffrey Lanigan. I spoke to both individuals literally minutes after the tornado - if that's how it's going to be categorized and I cannot imagine it'll be called anything else - but the National Weather Service has to do their official designation.

But let's say it's a tornado. We were in communication instantaneously. I just toured the downtown with my commissioners. We have the head of the DOT, the head of the Public Service Commission, our representative from Homeland Security. We have State Police, our Superintendent has joined us. We have so many individuals from the State Office of Fire Prevention and Control.

Everybody you can think of is on the ground here. We toured this community, but first I will say: as I was landing, coming in from New York City to make sure I was here - you cannot imagine the impact of seeing from the sky how vast the destruction is. When you see entire swaths of trees just collapsed like they were toothpicks.

And then houses with the roofs gone, churches. St. Mary's, which had been here since the late 1800s, a fixture in our community. And then you get on the ground. We landed at Griffith's. If you want to know the power of this tornado, take note of the fact that a B-52 bomber was tipped on its side that weighs 183,000 pounds.

That's the ferocity of the storm that ravaged this community, devastation unleashed by Mother Nature. Over the past 24 hours, as I said, is the worst natural disaster in the history of this community. What is so miraculous, so incredibly miraculous, is that in this City of Rome - barely a block not affected, no loss of life. But It was close for people.

We saw a building where a new chiropractic office just opened last August. All excited to convert the old church property into new life, businesses. You look up and you see a room that is absolutely obliterated. The ceiling collapsed; it just looks like a war zone. And then you learn that there were two children who had been sitting in the waiting room waiting for their mom to arrive, who escaped unharmed.

If that's not the hand of God protecting the people of the City, then I don't know what is. So, we're grateful that people survived the experience, especially those who had been in the Georgian towers. Senior citizens, that's their home. The top floor of the seventh-floor collapses, and people walked out, and they're not being taken care of over in Utica.

So, those are just some of the reflections of walking for a short trip down to this community. It says to me, this is a community built on resilience and toughness and a can-do spirit. As I talked to countless business owners who promised to rebuild, but also for our government workers displaced in our Office of Mental Health.

People of our neediest in the community had walked into these buildings getting services that were so essential for them. Seriously damaged for months, if not years before they can be restored. The county offices, you'll hear from the County Executive. The social services, all the basic services that we give to our people to help them - get through life, are now damaged and compromised.

We were committed to doing whatever it takes to rebuild these services. These communities, the buildings because, in a moment of crisis, New Yorkers always unite. We come together.

And so, I want to thank my state partners as well. Senator Joe Griffo, once the Mayor of this community, this hits personally for him. Assemblymember Marianne Buttenschon, who has been speaking to me about how we can continue providing services to the neediest of this community, because there is need. I met with one family who lived in an RV: a mom, daughter, son, son in law and a one-year-old. The RV was just knocked right over. They ran for their lives. They are in need of services.

So, to this community - we will not abandon you. We'll continue to bring the resources from the State of New York, now and for as long as it takes.

So, who's on the ground here? I brought the best. I have the most experienced team, we have been through so many disasters. I've been Governor less than three years; I've had to deal with more historic nature events, cataclysmic extreme weather events than probably anybody in history. Hurricanes, tornadoes - remember last week, there were 42 tornado warnings from Jamestown up to Plattsburgh. Never before in our State's history have we had that scale of impacts from Mother Nature.

The point is, my team is experienced, they're the best. Director of State Operations Kathryn Garcia is here, came up with me this morning. She understands disasters like no other. Our State Police Superintendent Steven James, been at my side through many of these crises. DOT Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez, first thing she did was make sure that we could clear our streets, manage the damage, make sure that our generators were there to make sure that our streets are managed in a safe way.

Public Service Chair Rory Christian has joined us here to make sure the utilities do their job - speaking to them nonstop, getting the power back on. And we've gone statewide from over 300,000 without power yesterday to about 100,000 today, about 20,000 here in this county.

But this is an urgent situation when the heat is as hot as it is right now, people need their power back on. So, we are focused intensely on making sure that that happens as soon as humanly possible. Peter Cichetti, the Executive Deputy Director of Homeland Security, representing Jackie Bray, who's an incredible individual who's managed crises with me as well.

To all the men and women at the Emergency Operations Center at Griffiss Air Force Base - you need to see this - this is a military operation like no other: state, local, city, county - all working together as if they've been trained together since the very beginning. A beautiful synergy that's all working to build up this community and make sure people are safe, working around the clock to monitor the conditions.

The reason we're still monitoring - hate to break the news - It's not over yet. Weather conditions that created this devastation here in Rome are still in the air above New York. There's potential for tonight to also be another devastating experience. For that reason, I declared a state of emergency for the entire State of New York as we face another period of tornadoes, high winds, thunderstorms, and whatever else Mother Nature throws our way.

So, let's start with what we see here on the ground in Rome. I'm sure most of you will never forget this, but at 3:27 p.m. yesterday, high winds touched down here in Rome and all the way out to Canastota. And so, I spoke to the county executive in Madison and the Mayor of Canastota and offered all of our support for them as well.

We also had three other tornadoes touch down in Warren County and Hamilton County as well. Let's talk about Rome since we're here. 22 buildings, major structural damage; four entirely destroyed. As I mentioned, the seventh floor of the Georgian Tower collapsed. The building next to our Office of Mental Health is now unsafe to enter.

And as you see behind us, the steeple blowing off the church, St. Mary's First Presbyterian - lost part of its roof over into the village of Canastota. Tragically, there was a loss of life: an 82-year-old man Robert Popple. We're still determining the specifics, but a neighbor reports he was out trying to check on his antique car outside and was swept away. Let's just recognize this 82-year-old, who just was out there living life as one does and unexpectedly swept from us. Let's honor him in a moment of silence. Thank you.

So, in Canastota, three homes collapsed, 30 structures damaged. The Red Cross also has a shelter there as well. Now, I don't want to bring bad news back, but we also came through Lewis County just a few days ago. Serious flash flooding, seven inches of rainfall in the village of Lowville and state personnel have been on the on the ground for a week there.

If you're ready for this as well, the Canadian wildfires are back. As you recall last June, Syracuse and the City of New York had the worst air quality on the planet for a period of days, because of the smoke coming from the wildfires in Quebec. We just received reports that that is starting. We're not expecting air quality to be that compromised over this next week, but I want everybody to be ready for this. Be ready for this. We'll get out more warnings on what people need to do to prepare.

So, to deal with this, you know my team is on the ground, but I also said we need more help. We need help with cleanup. We need to help with the people. So as of now, I've deployed 50 National Guard to continue with the storm response. They'll help remove debris from public areas and provide assistance as necessary. We also will need the money, right? The money to rebuild. I spoke with Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Chuck Schumer, and our Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

Both of them have committed any assistance we need with FEMA. But as you know, we first must calculate the scale of the damage. It has to exceed $37 million in public damage - meaning to roads, bridges, infrastructure, public buildings, libraries, schools, offices. Once that is calculated, we can put in a request and ask for a declaration of disaster from the federal government.

So, the White House is aware. I've already reached out to them. FEMA has been notified as well. So, I've spoken to our leadership team in Washington and they're ready to assist. So, at the state level, we do have some discretionary funds for capital work, like roadway repairs if the federal dollars are not sufficient.

Our Office of Faith and Nonprofit Services has money to help with churches and religious institutions. And what's really important for those who are trying to figure out how to manage the whole idea of getting insurance coverage for their properties and their homes. The Department of Financial Services is deploying their disaster strike team and they'll literally set up a trailer - people can walk up to. I've seen it many times - that they can get assistance on how to file their claims. So, we'll be there for them as well.

So, we still have our Emergency Operations Center, operational right now. We have our incident management team. We have our Office of Fire Prevention. We have our canine search and rescue teams - countless individuals, even just all the debris that's on the streets. The streets look good. That's because teams descended quickly and we called the - I sent in the equipment to cut trees and clear debris, and I continue to have the Department of Public Service with utility workers ready - 5,000 people deployed.

So, I'm ready to wrap up, but there's a lot going on here. There's a lot going on here. And as I said to the Mayor and the County Executive many times - "Whatever you need, we're here to help. We're not abandoning you." And as I said, starting tonight, severe weather storms are expected again, extending here in Rome, all the way across the eastern half of New York. The highest risk is the Capital Region to Long Island - more trees coming down, more wires down, localized flash flooding and it's going to be very hot. Much of the State is now covered in 90-degree weather. It feels like 100. Some parts of our State are going to feel like 105 degrees. Good news is we expect this weather condition to break sometime tomorrow. So, continue monitoring the situation as well.

So, almost exactly one year ago. I stood at a podium like this. 200 miles away in a community called Highland Falls. They had just experienced what was defined as a 1,000-year flooding event - destroyed the downtown, water raged through as if there were no streets, as if all part of the river. As I said on that day, and I've been saying since I became Governor, "These extreme weather events are no longer the abnormal. They are the new normal."

And so, this summer, as we're experiencing historically early heat waves, the most ever tornado warnings and now this horrific event in the Mohawk Valley, this is going to be what we're going to expect from here on out. But we're ready. We're prepared. The State of New York will not abandon our communities.

So, I look around. I just want to say again, I'm so grateful for the partnership that we have with our local officials. It means everything and hopefully inspires the confidence of a community that has been struck with a disaster that they never could imagine. But we will rebuild, we will come back and we will be stronger with that. I'd like to turn it over to County Executive Tony Picente.

Contact the Governor's Press Office