The city’s first major winter storm stranded thousands of air travelers, shut down highways and caused mass-transit disruptions as it dumped a blanket of snow overnight on the Big Apple.
New Yorkers were urged to stay at home to avoid the lethal combo of heavy winds and polar temperatures that will make it feel like minus-10 degrees on Friday. “This is not something to be trifled with . . . New York has learned the hard way: Take Mother Nature seriously,” said Gov. Cuomo, who, along with New Jersey’s Gov. Chris Christie, declared a state of emergency.
By early evening, more than 350 flights had been cancelled at Newark Airport, along with nearly 200 at La Guardia and more than 125 at JFK. To cope with up to 10 inches of snow:
• All subways lines with express tracks are running local only, so trains that are normally stored in outside yards can be kept underground. Bus service will be scaled back depending to road conditions. Accordion style buses were pulled out of service as snow fell.
• Alternate-side-of-the-street parking is suspended Friday, but a decision on whether to close the city schools would wait until the early morning.
•The Long Island Expressway was shut down from midnight to 8 a.m., along with I-87 between Albany and New York and I-84 between Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
• The LIRR said service might be suspended if accumulations exceed 10 inches.
Mayor de Blasio, facing his first big test just two days into his administration, called in an army of sanitation workers on overtime to prepare for snow removal.
“This is coming from the top that he doesn’t want to blow this,” said a driver. “We were told that he wants to make the best first impression possible, so you’re gonna see a ton of our guys out there all night long.”
Crews were on the road before daybreak Thursday and starting spreading salt hours before the first flakes fell.
“We are salting every nook and cranny, bringing out smaller trucks to get the roads that the bigger ones can’t fit in,” a source said.
One worker who was driving a plow in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, early Thursday afternoon said workers were dispatched “with orders to take whatever preventative measures we can.”
De Blasio said the best thing to do is hunker down until the storm passes.
“Stay indoors to the maximum extent possible. Stay out of your cars to the maximum extent possible,” de Blasio said.
“If you don’t need to go out, please don’t go out.”
Travelers stranded at the airports may have to wait “a day, a day and a half,” said Thomas Bosco, interim director of the Port Authority’s Aviation Department.
“We have an ample supply of cots, pillows, blankets and other amenities to try to minimize the inconvenience, should you decide to be an overnight guest in one of our airports.”
De Blasio urged New Yorkers to keep an eye out for neighbors in trouble.
“If you see someone in distress, if they are shivering uncontrollably or seem disoriented, these may be signs of hypothermia. Please, call 311 or 911 or get them somewhere warm and safe ASAP,” he said.
Additional reporting by Erin Calabrese, Carl Campanile and Bruce Golding