New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) appeared to assert his state did not experience storms like tornados or hurricanes until climate change during his interview with MSNBC on Friday.
MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi asked Cuomo about the thunderstorms that have dumped large amounts of rain this week in New York, leading to flooding in parts of the state.
“You know, Ali, anyone who questions extreme weather and climate change is just delusional at this point. We have seen in the State of New York what everyone has seen, we seen these weather patterns that we never had before. We didn’t have hurricanes, we didn’t have super storms, we didn’t have tornadoes," Cuomo said.
Cuomo asserted that some of the neighborhoods he visited were flooded to the point where entire streets looked like rivers themselves" resulting in people being trapped in their homes.
"Thank God we have the best first responders, I believe, in the United States and everyone got off safely. But this is a recurrent pattern and anyone who is still in denial is making a serious mistake," he added.
New York's Democrat and Chronicle reports there have been over 400 tornadoes in the state since they have started keeping track in 1950. Since the mid-1990s, the state has averaged nine tornadoes per year. Twelve of the tornadoes have resulted in deaths.
While not occurring nearly as much as in southern states, New York has a long history of being in the path of hurricanes and tropical storms, such as the 1903 Vagabond Hurricane, the New England Hurricane of 1938, Hurricanes Carol and Edna in 1954, and Hurricane Donna in 1960.