Objective

To determine the extent of implementation of the six recommendations included in our initial audit report, Hazard Mitigation and Coordination (Report 2021-N-8).

About the Program

Hurricane Sandy, or Superstorm Sandy, which hit New York City on October 29, 2012, was one of the most damaging hurricanes ever to make landfall in the United States. Over the course of 48 hours, Hurricane Sandy inflicted an estimated $19 billion in damages and lost economic activity across the City, resulted in the deaths of 44 residents, and left hundreds of thousands without power and with limited access to food, drinking water, health care, and other critical services. Major weather-related events continue to threaten New Yorkers.

New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM) is responsible for coordinating citywide emergency planning and response for all types and scales of emergencies, including weather-related events. NYCEM helps New Yorkers before, during, and after these emergencies through preparedness, education, and response. NYCEM also works to advance long-term initiatives that reduce risk and increase the resilience of New York City through mitigation planning and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) mitigation grant coordination. NYCEM’s New York City Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP) identifies the hazards that pose a risk to the City as well as actions agencies are taking to reduce the impacts of these hazards.

NYCEM creates and maintains four citywide evacuation plans that provide guidance to agencies on how to prepare for, conduct, and assess emergencies. In addition, Continuity of Operations (COOP) plans ensure that individual organizations can continue to perform essential functions, provide essential services, and deliver core capabilities during a disruption to normal operations.

The objective of our initial audit report, issued October 25, 2022 and covering the period January 2018 through April 2022, was to determine if NYCEM adequately monitors and coordinates with City agencies for natural hazard mitigation, evacuation, and continuity of operations. The audit found weaknesses in NYCEM’s monitoring processes as well as inaccuracies in data reported on NYCEM’s HMP website. In addition, NYCEM did not provide evidence that it conducted formal assessments of its four citywide evacuation plans. Two of these plans were last updated in 2013—9 years before we issued our audit report. Moreover, NYCEM did not have access to local evacuation plans.

Further, NYCEM could have done more to monitor and follow up with City agencies to ensure COOP plans were completed. We found that not all City agencies submitted COOP plans to NYCEM; therefore, NYCEM officials had no assurance that all City agency COOP plans were created or completed. Even when City agencies submitted COOP plans, NYCEM did not review them to ensure, to the extent possible, that the information was accurate, up to date, and complete. COOP plans were often incomplete and had incorrect points of contact listed. Moreover, many City agencies were not conducting the required COOP plan exercises that test the capabilities of the COOP plan.

Key Findings

NYCEM has made some progress in addressing the problems we identified in the initial audit report. Of the initial report’s six audit recommendations, three were partially implemented and three were not implemented.

Key Recommendation

Officials are requested, but not required, to provide information about any actions planned to address the unresolved issues discussed in this follow-up within 30 days of the report’s issuance.