This Article is From Jan 26, 2015

Region Braces For Storm; Transit May Be Disrupted

Region Braces For Storm; Transit May Be Disrupted

People participate in a race in Brooklyn's Prospect Park following an evening storm on January 24, 2015 in New York City. (Agence France-Presse)

New York: Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Sunday that the storm approaching on Monday was likely to be one of the biggest to ever strike New York City, and he urged people to stay indoors to avoid powerful winds, low visibility and "treacherous" road conditions.

The National Weather Service, which issued a blizzard watch for the greater New York City area, forecast gusts of wind up to 50 mph and snow accumulation of "at least 1 to 2 feet."

But de Blasio said that the storm could bring up to 3 feet of snow, beginning with flurries late Monday morning, and that the heaviest snowfall would probably come Monday night into Tuesday morning.

Schools will be open on Monday but are likely to close on Tuesday, de Blasio said. Alternate side of the street parking was canceled, along with the city's annual count of the homeless population, which had been scheduled for Monday night.

"My message to New Yorkers is to prepare for something worse than we have seen before," the mayor said on Sunday afternoon while standing inside a Sanitation Department garage. "Now is the time to get ready for this extreme weather."

Officials described the storm as gathering force and said that it could topple power lines and disrupt transportation. On Sunday evening, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement that the storm could close the New York State Thruway and the Long Island Expressway, and that train service on Metro-North, Port Authority Trans-Hudson and Long Island Rail Road lines could be halted before Monday's evening commute.

While saying that he was confident that city agencies would be ready to handle the storm, de Blasio emphasized the potentially hazardous nature of the snowfall and repeatedly warned those living in New York City not to underestimate it, saying at one point: "Whatever safety precautions you take in advance of a storm take even more, be even more cautious." He added: "Expect a lot of challenges and delays."

De Blasio said the Sanitation Department had scheduled 12-hour shifts, with 2,400 employees on each shift, working from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Nearly 500 salt spreaders will go out before the snow. After 2 inches of snow have fallen, the city will deploy plows to clear about 6,000 miles of road. The sanitation commissioner, Kathryn Garcia, said that 2,000 plows from her agency would be available, along with 242 from other agencies.

In other preparations, nearly 500 Department of Transportation workers had begun treating bridges and overpasses, and emergency crews had filled more than 1,000 potholes.

The city's Office of Emergency Management had instructed construction companies to remove items from scaffolding, said the agency's commissioner, Joseph J. Esposito, adding that he had been coordinating with dozens of local, state and federal agencies to prepare for a range of contingencies, including power failures.

Esposito said that his agency would be ready to open temporary shelters and had arranged for the use of "high-axle" vehicles owned by the National Guard that could be used to assist emergency medical technicians navigating streets filled with snow drifts.

All city buses will be equipped with snow tires or chains by Monday afternoon, Cuomo's statement said. Bus service will proceed Monday morning as usual but Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials may make scheduling adjustments as the storm progresses.

The authority will begin storing subway cars underground on Monday night, the statement added, to protect them from the elements. De-icers and snow throwers will be deployed and extra crews will be on duty.

Metro-North and LIRR officials were preparing for the possibility of altering or halting service, an MTA spokeswoman said on Sunday. In addition, she said, all LIRR waiting rooms would be kept open 24 hours for the duration of the storm.

Other state agencies, including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the State Police and the National Guard will be on alert, said Cuomo's statement.

Both the governor and the mayor acknowledged that public transportation could be slowed or halted.

"This could be the biggest snowstorm in the history of New York City so, yes, there could be delays of everything," de Blasio told reporters.

Hazards could persist even after the abatement of "blizzard-type conditions." De Blasio said that people should avoid the city's parks in the immediate aftermath of the storm because the weight of snow could snap tree branches and send them plunging to the ground.

According to a list displayed by the mayor, the heaviest snowstorm in the city's history, measured by accumulations in Central Park, came in 2006, when 26.9 inches of snow fell. A blizzard in 1947 dropped just more than 26 inches, and one in 1888 brought 21 inches.

The most recent heavy snowfall came on the day after Christmas in 2010, when 20 inches fell, paralyzing the Long Island Rail Road, stranding ambulances and trapping commuters for hours on an A train that was stranded on an icy section of elevated track in Queens.
© 2015, The New York Times News Service
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