City officials are evacuating nearly 2,000 migrants from a controversial city shelter at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field over safety concerns amid an incoming storm.
The move comes as torrential rains and 70-mph winds are expected to slam the borough Tuesday night.
“To be clear, this relocation is a proactive measure being taken out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety and wellbeing of individuals working and living at the center,” City Hall spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said.
“The families are already in the process of being temporarily relocated and will continue to be provided with essential services and support,” Mamelak added. “The relocation will continue until any weather conditions that may arise have stabilized and the facility is once again fit for living.”
City officials said the evacuated migrants are being bused to James Madison High School in Brooklyn.
It’s not the first time extreme weather has been an issue at the 2,000-bed facility, which took a pounding last month when heavy rain and gusting, 55-mph winds shook metal bolts and hinges loose from the ceiling.
The ferocious storm on Dec. 18 dropped up to 4 inches of rain in the region and had migrants inside the tents fearing for their lives, they told The Post at the time.
“The wind was so strong, it looked like the tents were going to give way and be blown apart,” Venezuelan migrant Reibi Rodrigues said. “When we told security we were afraid of an imminent collapse, they told us the door was open and we could leave when we want.
“But where were we going to go?”
City Hall officials said they had an evacuation plan in place and ready to execute if needed, but said no flooding was reported at the former federal airfield during the December downpour.
They also said they were unaware of bolts and hinges falling from the top of the tents.
The first migrants moved to the abandoned Brooklyn airfield in November after Gov. Kathy Hochul negotiated with the White House for access to the site to erect a tent city.
Critics worried about the remote location, but city officials were desperate to find space for the thousands of migrants flooding into the Big Apple.
Nearly 70,000 migrants remain in the city’s care from among the 162,000 who have arrived in the five boroughs from the US border since the spring of 2022.
The city also erected a tent city on parkland at Randall’s Island but has not said whether that facility may also be vulnerable to the coming storm.
