NYC’s evacuation plan for Floyd Bennett migrant shelter is light on detail

The city’s official evacuation plan for a massive tent shelter at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field lacks details and clarity on what to do in a weather-related evacuation, according to a copy of the plan obtained by Gothamist.

The plan, which has not previously been reported and was obtained through a public records request, was created by emergency management officials in November as the city set up the four-tent shelter. The former federal airfield houses about 2,000 migrants on Barren Island, surrounded by Jamaica Bay, and is part of a network of shelters the city has established to accommodate the ongoing migrant influx.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration ordered the site evacuated for the first time last month, ahead of a powerful storm that brought wind gusts as high as 61 mph and more than two inches of rain.

The large-scale tent shelter can accommodate about 500 families at once and is running under an agreement between the city and National Park Service, which oversees Floyd Bennett as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. But critics have for months urged officials to find another place to house migrants, arguing the airfield is far from services, schools, public transit and jobs and is vulnerable to coastal flooding.

According to the plan reviewed by Gothamist, as well as information provided by the city, the official procedure leaves much room for improvisation.

“Guests will be transferred to [LOCATION TBD] for duration of storm,” the one-and-a-half-page document states. It also notes officials should confirm the availability of bathrooms, changing tables, outlets and additional power strips at any hypothetical backup sites.

Migrants staying at Floyd Bennett were evacuated on Jan. 9 to James Madison High School, about three miles inland. Some said they and their children slept on the floor or seats of an auditorium despite pledges by city officials to provide cots. The school, which operated on a remote basis the next day due to the migrants’ presence, also received a bomb threat and multiple harassing calls, city officials said.

“Formula and diapers, water/snacks will be taken from FBF,” the evacuation plan says, referring to the airfield. “No chairs or cots will be taken to evacuation locations.”

Migrants had already spent a sleepless night at Floyd Bennet during an intense December storm. A few said the howling winds and heavy rain had kept them awake overnight, making some fear for their safety.

One migrant told Gothamist she did not send her children to school the next day because they were exhausted from being woken throughout the night by people screaming. Another said the site was “not a place for kids,” pointing out the bathrooms were located outside the living quarters — a particular inconvenience in inclement weather.

At the time, a mayoral spokesperson declined to release the shelter’s evacuation plan, saying it was an “internal” document. But a spokesperson for the city’s emergency management agency said the tents could withstand winds up to 67.5 mph and had been fortified.

Zachary Iscol, the agency’s commissioner, told reporters the structures were designed to “flex” in heavy winds and the storm’s gusts were not “anywhere near” the threshold for triggering an evacuation. The National Weather Service recorded wind gusts of up to 54 mph at nearby John F. Kennedy International Airport during the storm.

Despite the site's flood-prone location, the Floyd Bennett plan only addresses high-wind events as a potential “trigger” for an evacuation, citing winds above 60 mph as a “concern.”

“General plans are always in place should we need to evacuate any shelter we built or operate,” New York City Emergency Management spokesperson Aries Dela Cruz said in a written statement. “We are always monitoring weather and other conditions throughout the city 24/7 looking out for any potential problems affecting New York City, and asylum seeker sites in particular.”

He added the agency considers multiple factors in deciding whether to evacuate the shelter, and City Hall ultimately makes the call. Beyond wind speeds, officials weigh the expected duration of the wind and storm, as well as the wind’s direction.

NYCEM said it continues to update the plan and other emergency plans as needed, noting its staff is trained in evacuating temporary shelters and supervising any contractors involved.

The document states that New York City Health + Hospitals, which is managing the Floyd Bennett shelter and more than 15 other “humanitarian relief centers” for migrants, is responsible for alerting the residents about evacuation orders. But the plan does not specify when or how.

Shelter residents said they first started hearing about the decision to evacuate on Jan. 9 late that morning, through a picture of a flier circulated on WhatsApp. The relocation displaced them until around 4:30 a.m. the next day, when they returned to the tents, according to officials.

Earlier this month, Adams testified to state lawmakers in Albany that the city’s tent shelters would be the first migrant shelters to close if the city can get enough migrants out of its care — though he noted he did not “see any relief in sight” from the influx.

“Our goal is to move people out of the tents, and as soon as we can move those people out of the tents, we’re going to do that,” he said. “It’s costly, it is not the ideal situation for people to be in, and it’s not good for the communities that they are located in.”

“We don’t want to put people in tents,” Adams continued. “We have been placed in an unsustainable situation.”