Council set to probe freeze response as 17th person reported dead

Police direct traffic past a car stuck going across the Brooklyn Bridge as it snows on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in New York. Photo: Alyssa Goodman/AP

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CITYWIDE – THE CITY COUNCIL is set to hold hearings next week into the wave of exposure deaths during the ongoing deep freeze, reports NBC 4 News, following an announcement by Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday that another person was found deceased, the 17th since the beginning of the cold weather.

The Council’s committees on Public Safety and General Welfare will hold a joint hearing on Feb. 10 examining the deaths, 13 of which have so far been attributed to hypothermia. The Sanitation Committee also plans a separate hearing next week.

The city remains under a Code Blue alert, ahead of a weekend forecast to bring single-digit lows. Anyone who sees a person sleeping outside or appearing to be in distress from the cold is asked to call 311 or 911 to help dispatch outreach teams to their location.

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