COLD & CRUEL
City digs out as frigid temps set in and NYCHA tenants beg for heat
THE YEAR’S first snowstorm blasted the city with a windwhipped wintry wallop Thursday, paralyzing local airports and highways as already bitter temperatures plunged.
More than 2,000 flights at the area’s three major airports were scratched as a foot of snow fell in parts of Queens, where the blizzard brought winds of close to 50 mph.
The snow dropped at the rapid rate of 2 inches per hour, beginning early in the morning, and dissipating by sundown in Manhattan.
More than 11 inches coated the Bronx and Brooklyn, while Rego Park in Queens received 13 inches, and 10 inches fell in Staten Island’s Great Kills. On Long Island, where the whirling snow reduced visibility to almost zero on the Long Island Expressway, gusts of more than 60 mph blasted through Nassau and Suffolk counties.
“This is not a normal snowstorm,” Gov. Cuomo warned at a morning news conference. “It is snow plus very high gusts of wind, and that changes the situation dramatically.”
Terryville in Suffolk County received 15.2 inches of snow, and Baldwin in Nassau County was buried under 15.1 inches. Cuomo declared a state of emergency for all of Long Island, along with New York City and Westchester County.
A reported 9 inches came down in Central Park, a record for the date.
In Perth Amboy, N.J., a 13-year-old girl died and at least 35 others were sickened in an apparent case of carbon monoxide poisoning in a threestory residential building, according to ABC News.
It wasn’t immediately determined if the deadly leak was weather-related. While the fast and furious snowstorm blew in and out of the city in fairly short order, the brutally cold weather accompanying the flakes is expected to linger through the weekend.
Low temperatures overnight were expected to hit a mere 10 degrees, while the Saturday high was projected at 14 degrees — and the low at 4 degrees.
Officials warned the singledigit temperatures would make it nearly impossible to clean the streets down to the blacktop.
“The driving conditions are going to be tough the next few days,” said Mayor de Blasio.
“Don’t expect to see a lot of melting. There’s going to be ice out there, whether you’re driving or walking.”
The biting cold also activated the city’s Code Blue program, sending outreach teams to contact homeless New Yorkers.
Strong winds and whiteout conditions forced the shutdown of all flights for most of the day at JFK and LaGuardia Airports, the Port Authority
announced. A staggering 95% of the LaGuardia flights were scuttled.
All airports were expected to be up and running Friday. City officials said public schools would reopen Friday, and alternate side of the street parking regulations would remain suspended for Friday and Saturday.
Across the boroughs, officials reported 86 fender-bender accidents by noon.
An FDNY ambulance became stuck in the snow on the Upper East Side. Firefighters from a nearby ladder company gave the rescuers a helpful push. Authorities urged drivers to keep their cars off the road as snow, ice and high winds buffeted the region early Thursday. But in Suffolk County, many residents failed to heed the call. Dozens of accidents on local roadways left drivers stranded on suburban streets as the snow continued to fall. The governor said the conditions on the Long Island Expressway were already horrible before noon.
“If you have to show up for work, then you do, but it is going to be an ugly, difficult commute, and you should expect that,” said Cuomo.
“If it’s a situation where you don’t have to do it today, you don’t have to return your Christmas gifts today, then don’t do it.”
Mass transit, with a few glitches, managed to get New Yorkers where they were going. The messy weather did make the subway commute a slog due to signal, track switch and train car malfunctions.
Problems were reported on a half-dozen lines throughout the day. LIRR ridership was down 30%, but those who rode experienced little trouble.
Downed trees created some issues on Metro-North — but again, disruptions were minor. With Jessica Chia, Dan Rivoli, Victoria Bekiempis and Graham Rayman