MAYOR WU SHARES BOSTON’S PREPARATIONS FOR CLIMATE
EMERGENCIES
City reinforcing emergency response processes while also
implementing long-term resilience plans
BOSTON - Thursday, February 20, 2025 - Today, Mayor Michelle
Wu, Emergency Preparedness Chief Adrian Jordan, Chief Climate Officer Brian
Swett, Chief of Operations Dion Irish, and public safety officials shared
Boston’s preparations for extreme weather events, including efforts to lower
risks with long-term climate resilience plans and ongoing efforts to update the
City’s emergency response. As a coastal city, Boston faces the increasing
climate risk of extreme heat, rising coastal flooding, and intense stormwater.
The city’s cross-departmental approach has shifted the emphasis from planning
to implementation, focusing on empowering residents, supporting communities at
greatest risk of flooding and other emergency events, and lowering the risk
citywide through resilience efforts.
“Climate risks require an all of government approach, and
here in Boston we’ve been working on short and long term initiatives to better
respond in emergency situations and protect our residents in the generations to
come,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “Emergency weather events in other
parts of the country have highlighted the need for us to share our progress and
remind residents to take precautions now such as signing up for AlertBoston and
familiarizing themselves with our coastal flood map. I’m grateful to our City
departments and external partners for all of their work behind the scenes to
keep our communities safe.”
"Emergency preparedness is a shared responsibility. At
the City of Boston, we are committed to providing the plans, resources, and
communication necessary to keep our community safe,” said Chief of
Emergency Preparedness Adrian Jordan. “However, the more our residents are
informed, engaged, and prepared, the stronger our response will be in the face
of any emergency. I encourage all residents to sign up for AlertBoston,
consider joining our CERT program, and most importantly, create an emergency
plan for themselves and their families."
"As climate risks intensify, our approach must be both
proactive to our current risks and adaptive to our changing climate. Boston is
not only strengthening its emergency response capabilities but also making
longer term infrastructure investments to protect our neighborhoods from rising
seas, extreme storms, and dangerous heat,” said Brian Swett, Chief
Climate Officer. “I’m grateful for Mayor Wu’s leadership, the dedication of
our city teams, and the engagement of residents and business owners in making
Boston a national leader in climate resilience and emergency
preparedness."
The City has been working to develop and implement climate
resilience projects to address coastal flooding, stormwater management, and
extreme heat. Today, Mayor Wu announced the Inspectional Services Department
(ISD) brought on a Floodplain Administrator who is working to improve
floodplain management practices. These efforts can increase access to lower
cost flood insurance through FEMA’s Community Rating System Program, which
hiring a Floodplain Administrator is a key first step towards qualifying for. Landlords
and housing property managers will also see on this year’s rental registration
forms the opportunity to identify if their buildings include basement units.
Residents of these units are at a higher risk in the event of flooding, and the
City is prioritizing knowing where they are to proactively provide support.
“Boston is taking actionable steps to prepare our City’s
built environment for future climate emergencies, following through on previous
planning work. Hiring the new Floodplain Administrator is an example of how
we’re enacting Boston’s Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan,” shared Dion
Irish, Chief of Operations. “We’re focused on making both our public safety
facilities more resilient and on ensuring the buildings where our communities
gather together can weather storms and continue to serve residents during and
after major climate events.”
Mayor Wu joined city officials for today’s press briefing at
the District A-7 police station in East Boston, which the Mayor opened in 2023. The new building design incorporates
resiliency features, including stormwater chambers under the parking lot and
stormwater planters that capture stormwater that falls on site, and a cool,
white roof to help with extreme heat mitigation.
"As a representative of one of Boston’s most vulnerable
coastal communities, I know firsthand that climate change isn’t a distant
threat—it’s a present reality,” said Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata.
“Our neighborhoods are already seeing the effects of rising seas, extreme
storms, and dangerous heat. I commend the administration for moving from
planning to action, ensuring that residents, businesses, and infrastructure are
better prepared for climate emergencies. From floodplain management to
emergency response, these efforts will help protect our most at-risk
communities and create a more resilient city."
Other recent efforts to better respond to potential coastal
flooding events include the Boston Fire Department’s new high water rescue
vehicles, hosting the nation’s first Deployables Day training exercise last fall, and
upgrading the City’s flood forecasting and tracking system. The City has also
been working to lower the risk of flooding events in the long-term by
implementing the Coastal Flood Resilience Overlay District (CFROD), a national-leading
standard to embed coastal resilience into our Zoning code; redesigning parks
and green spaces for resiliency such as McConnell Park in Dorchester and Ryan Playground in Charlestown; and allocating the
highest amount of Capital funding in Boston’s history to coastal resilience
projects. A new stormwater grant and credit program launched by the Boston
Water and Sewer Commission and new green infrastructure standards are now in
place to update the City’s aging water and sewer system and its capacity during
heavy rain.
Similarly for extreme heat events, the City launched the
Urban Forestry Division to bring shade to the hottest neighborhood streets. For
instance, 1,912 new street trees were planted in 2024. Additionally, the City
of Boston launched the Boston Tree Alliance while planting over 160 trees on
private properties, and has installed the nation’s largest implementation of
green roofs on bus shelters. New misting towers and tents are put in place at
key sites, including nine Boston Public Library locations and three community
centers, during heat emergencies to keep residents cool where they are.
“The Healey-Driscoll Administration is fortunate to have a
strong group of emergency management partners at the local and state level
addressing the increasing complexity and frequency of crisis events caused by
climate change,” said Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency
Director Dawn Brantley. “Through collaboration, training, and planning,
Boston is increasing community-level resilience and reducing long-term
vulnerability, especially within disadvantaged communities that are often
disproportionately impacted by disasters.”
In the wake of large-scale evacuations and severe weather
emergencies around the country, residents are encouraged to educate themselves
on their evacuation routes. The Office of Emergency Management is
launching an update to the existing evacuation route signs around the City to
better reflect current traffic flow and at-risk areas. This will also include a
shift to more online education materials in addition to the physical signage.
Residents are encouraged to sign up for Alert Boston, a free service available in the City’s 11
most-spoken languages.
