NEW YORK—The blizzard that blanketed the city on Sunday is the worst storm the area has seen in years. The clean up has strained city resources, and on Tuesday Mayor Michael Bloomberg held his third press conference in three days to discuss the aftermath. With about 2 feet of snow piling up over Sunday and Monday, and 65 mile-an-hour winds blowing snow over already-plowed roads and creating whiteouts, many abandoned vehicles still line the city’s streets. City agencies and private companies have been working together to clean up the streets and keep the city moving.
“Today our No. 1 challenge is stuck ambulances, and abandoned cars and buses,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “These abandoned vehicles are making it very difficult for our plows to move as quickly as they usually do, and that is one of the real differences between this storm and past ones that we have dealt with.”
As of Tuesday morning, 168 ambulances were unstuck, with some quickly becoming stuck again, 40 were still awaiting towing service. FDNY had a backlog of more than 1,300 calls as of Monday night; this number was down to 166 by Tuesday afternoon, reported Bloomberg. New Jersey and New York state loaned the city 35 ambulances to keep up with demand.
The mayor urges New Yorkers to be patient as the city works to clean up the snow. The director of the Office of City-Wide Emergency Communications, Skip Funk, is reviewing the response to the emergency.
He will identify problems and inefficiencies to make suggestions for improved response to future incidents, said Bloomberg. The mayor lauded the efforts of the many city and private agencies that have come together in an effort to clear the streets after the massive blizzard.
“Collectively, they represent the biggest effort to clear snow our city has ever seen,” said Bloomberg.
The Department of Sanitation deployed over 2,000 workers and 1,700 vehicles, including plows and snow melters. The Parks Department has 800 staff and 198 vehicles at work, with all salters and plows leaving the parks to hit the streets. The NYPD contributed 40 tow trucks in addition to 70 private tow trucks. The Department of Environmental Protection provided 24 vehicles, including plows and dump trucks, and the Department of Transportation has 240 employees and 126 pieces of equipment on the roads.
The East River bridges are clear and the Staten Island ferry is running on a normal schedule. Garbage collection will be suspended until the snow is cleared, said the mayor.
This intense storm continues to move northeast up the coast to Newfoundland, Canada. The National Weather Service reports that New York, however, can look forward to clear skies ahead.
While the storm raged, all airports closed and travelers were left in the lurch. Because most flights were canceled in sufficient time for travelers to stay home, the number of passengers stuck in airports overnight was relatively low, according to the New York and New Jersey Port Authority. Nevertheless, approximately 1,400 people spent the night at the airport, most of them at JFK International Airport.
All airports have now been reopened and airlines are trying catch up on the canceled flights.
“One of the things we had identified early yesterday [Monday], was even if the runways were plowed, the problem in the New York area was getting people to the airport to work,” explained Ed Martelle, spokesman for American Airlines.
What might normally be a 45-minute commute for some American Airlines employees took five hours or more, if they were able to make it to the airport at all, says Martelle. One shuttle to LaGuardia was stuck for eight hours on Monday. According to Martelle, the Port Authority also kept changing the time they would open the airports, making it difficult to notify employees of their schedules.
As of Tuesday afternoon, American Airlines flights were running on schedule in Boston, are delayed 30 minutes on average in Philadelphia, but “things are not as we had hoped in New York,” said Martelle. At JFK only one runway is open, says Martelle, leading to five-hour delays; at LaGuardia, flights were delayed about 45 minutes; at Newark, delays were as long as eight hours.
The airline is considering what course of action to take to catch up on the 668 canceled flights from Sunday to Tuesday morning.
“We are looking at the possibility of bringing extra flights in,” explained Martelle. “We do have a few planes around the system that we do keep as spares. The trick is matching one of those planes with a flight crew.”
“It comes back to how fast the airports bounce back,” said Martelle. The rescheduled American Airline flights are looking to stretch out to Friday or Saturday.
“Today our No. 1 challenge is stuck ambulances, and abandoned cars and buses,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “These abandoned vehicles are making it very difficult for our plows to move as quickly as they usually do, and that is one of the real differences between this storm and past ones that we have dealt with.”
As of Tuesday morning, 168 ambulances were unstuck, with some quickly becoming stuck again, 40 were still awaiting towing service. FDNY had a backlog of more than 1,300 calls as of Monday night; this number was down to 166 by Tuesday afternoon, reported Bloomberg. New Jersey and New York state loaned the city 35 ambulances to keep up with demand.
The mayor urges New Yorkers to be patient as the city works to clean up the snow. The director of the Office of City-Wide Emergency Communications, Skip Funk, is reviewing the response to the emergency.
He will identify problems and inefficiencies to make suggestions for improved response to future incidents, said Bloomberg. The mayor lauded the efforts of the many city and private agencies that have come together in an effort to clear the streets after the massive blizzard.
“Collectively, they represent the biggest effort to clear snow our city has ever seen,” said Bloomberg.
The Department of Sanitation deployed over 2,000 workers and 1,700 vehicles, including plows and snow melters. The Parks Department has 800 staff and 198 vehicles at work, with all salters and plows leaving the parks to hit the streets. The NYPD contributed 40 tow trucks in addition to 70 private tow trucks. The Department of Environmental Protection provided 24 vehicles, including plows and dump trucks, and the Department of Transportation has 240 employees and 126 pieces of equipment on the roads.
The East River bridges are clear and the Staten Island ferry is running on a normal schedule. Garbage collection will be suspended until the snow is cleared, said the mayor.
This intense storm continues to move northeast up the coast to Newfoundland, Canada. The National Weather Service reports that New York, however, can look forward to clear skies ahead.
Travel Delays
While the storm raged, all airports closed and travelers were left in the lurch. Because most flights were canceled in sufficient time for travelers to stay home, the number of passengers stuck in airports overnight was relatively low, according to the New York and New Jersey Port Authority. Nevertheless, approximately 1,400 people spent the night at the airport, most of them at JFK International Airport.
All airports have now been reopened and airlines are trying catch up on the canceled flights.
“One of the things we had identified early yesterday [Monday], was even if the runways were plowed, the problem in the New York area was getting people to the airport to work,” explained Ed Martelle, spokesman for American Airlines.
What might normally be a 45-minute commute for some American Airlines employees took five hours or more, if they were able to make it to the airport at all, says Martelle. One shuttle to LaGuardia was stuck for eight hours on Monday. According to Martelle, the Port Authority also kept changing the time they would open the airports, making it difficult to notify employees of their schedules.
As of Tuesday afternoon, American Airlines flights were running on schedule in Boston, are delayed 30 minutes on average in Philadelphia, but “things are not as we had hoped in New York,” said Martelle. At JFK only one runway is open, says Martelle, leading to five-hour delays; at LaGuardia, flights were delayed about 45 minutes; at Newark, delays were as long as eight hours.
The airline is considering what course of action to take to catch up on the 668 canceled flights from Sunday to Tuesday morning.
“We are looking at the possibility of bringing extra flights in,” explained Martelle. “We do have a few planes around the system that we do keep as spares. The trick is matching one of those planes with a flight crew.”
“It comes back to how fast the airports bounce back,” said Martelle. The rescheduled American Airline flights are looking to stretch out to Friday or Saturday.
