The talking drones that city officials deployed to flood-prone neighborhoods on Tuesday were supposed to warn residents about that night’s storm in two languages. But video of a drone on Staten Island shows the yappy tech speaking an indecipherable language.
Officials said it was supposed to be Spanish.
“Heavy rainfall and flooding will take place until Wednesday morning,” a voice from the drone flying above Staten Island announced. “If you live in a basement or ground-floor apartment, be prepared to leave your location if flooding occurs.”
After several seconds of silence, a different robovoice took over.
“Preparado para evacuar,” the voice said. But the rest was difficult to discern, no matter what the listener’s native language.
Zach Iscol, the city’s emergency management commissioner, acknowledged the flub in a tweet response to a Gothamist editor.
“I’m very proud of the work our team has done preparing for this storm, but this shouldn’t have happened and we’re going to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he wrote.
A spokesperson for the emergency management office said at least five drones, all using the same recording, were deployed across historically flood-prone areas of the city.
Nearly a quarter of the city’s residents — more than 1.8 million people — speak Spanish at home, according to 2022 Census data. Mayor Eric Adams has used artificial intelligence to turn himself into a virtual polyglot and make Spanish, Yiddish, Haitian Creole and Mandarin-language robocalls to New Yorkers in “his” voice.
It’s part of his administration’s larger effort to use drones more frequently. The NYPD has more than tripled its use of drones in the last couple of years, deploying them to city beaches, protests and music festivals.