The Killer Chill

[Guest]

The killer chiller

Nanny, homeless man freeze to
death as pitiless cold grips city

BY ROBERT F. MOORE
and BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Two people froze to death yesterday
as winter put a deadly stranglehold on the city,
triggering an urgent push to move the homeless
into shelters and get all New Yorkers heat
and hot water needed to endure the arctic chill.

The frigid weather, accompanied by a wind chill
that made it feel like 5 below, claimed its first
casualty just after 7 a.m., when the body of a woman,
believed to be a live-in nanny, was found on a
Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, boardwalk bench.

Three hours later, a homeless man was discovered dead
in Queens outside a rundown trailer
where he routinely slept -
apparently another victim of the
plunging temperatures, cops said.

And there is no warm weather in sight,
with today's temperatures forecast to be
in the upper 20s before another brutal cold front
moves in tonight, bringing a light dusting of snow.

"It's a tragedy, especially when it gets cold like this,"
said Andrew Valentin, 21, who works near where
the man's body was found behind a Jackson Ave.
auto parts store in Long Island City.
"From what I heard, he slipped and fell.
He was found just lying on the ground outside."

The victim's name was not immediately released,
but he was known throughout the neighborhood
as "Little Man" because he was 5 feet tall.

Cops said a passerby found the 45-year-old nanny's
body on a bench at Brighton First Road and Boardwalk.

She was fully dressed and carrying identification,
according to cops, who were trying to find her relatives.

"It's terrible that someone should be out here
in this weather," said Ron Kriegel, 49,
who was hustling home on the
boardwalk yesterday afternoon.

The double tragedy left city officials scrambling
to warn people to bundle up and urging the homeless
to go to shelters.

About a dozen homeless people died from exposure
to the cold last winter.

At least 37,000 people were staying at
the city's public shelters last night.

"We're well-prepared for winter,"
said Jim Anderson of the Department of Homeless Services. "Shelter beds are available and outreach
teams are aggressively working throughout the boroughs
to encourage homeless ... to come inside."

The city's official help line, 311, was swamped with
more than 5,000 calls from New Yorkers complaining
about a lack of heat or hot water -
three times the normal daily volume.

SNIP

The mercury at Central Park plummeted
to a low of 8 degrees yesterday.

But northwest winds of up to 20 mph made it feel
5 degrees below zero, said David Wally of
the National Weather Service.

The all-time record low for January
came in 1892, when the mercury fell
to 6 degrees below zero.