Mother Nature clobbered the Big Apple with a whopping, wind-whipped 19.8 inches of snow, the fourth-largest snowfall in city history – and our Winter Wonderland ain’t gonna be cheap.
Mayor Bloomberg says the Big Digout will cost the city a whopping $1 million per inch of snow on the ground -possibly more.
The Great Blizzard of 2003 wreaked havoc through much of the Northeast:
* Causing at least 28 deaths.
* Paralyzing air travel.
* Spawning huge floods.
* Leaving thousands without power.
The amount of snowfall was staggering in some places – including western Maryland, where Garrett County was slammed with 49 inches. And in New Jersey, Little Egg Harbor in Ocean County registered 24 inches.
While Old Man Winter caused plenty of inconvenience, New Yorkers embraced the storm, strapping on skis to get around town, having playful snowball fights and building snowmen.
“This is fun! I wanted to play,” said Alex Hernandez, 19, taking a break from his kitchen job at the Caliente Cab Co. on Bleecker Street in the West Village to build a 5-foot-tall Frosty.
In Chelsea, Sarah Edwards transformed a red plastic storage bin into a makeshift sled for her 4-year-old daughter, and then used it as a coaster to lug her groceries home from a local D’Agostino’s.
From The Bronx to Bay Ridge, folks – many of whom had the day off for Presidents Day – forgot the hustle and bustle of the city to spend some quality time with nature.
Mayor Bloomberg said that while the snowstorm was “very pretty. It is also very inconvenient and very expensive,” with the city dispatching 2,700 sanitation workers, who used 1,700 pieces of heavy equipment, including 350 salt spreaders.
The cleanup could take several days. Parts of Queens were hit with 28 inches of snow, while areas of Brooklyn saw 20, the Bronx 18.3 and Staten Island a total of 19.5.
“Some of the roads really won’t be plowed until Wednesday. The last time we had this amount of snow was in 1996, and it took about 42 hours to get to every street,” the mayor said.
“We’re going to try to do a little better this time. But the bottom line is some of these streets we’re just not going to get to. If everybody could just exhibit some patience and a little bit of humor.”
He urged car owners not to use their vehicles – or even try to dig them out -and recommended everybody take mass transit.
Bloomberg said the storm will cost the city about $1 million an inch and “we’re way over the budget. But the bottom line is you spend the money, and then you have to find a ways later on to cut something else or raise your revenues elsewhere.”
The city is in a snow emergency, which means motorists are required to have snow tires or chains to drive on streets designated by red snow-emergency signs.
The holiday storm system powered up out of the Plains over the weekend, dumped snow in the Ohio Valley, churned up floods in the southern Appalachians and bulldozed up the East Coast.
The fierce, wind-fueled conditions were blamed for one death each in New Jersey, Ohio and Nebraska; two each in Illinois and Virginia; six each in West Virginia and Missouri, five in Pennsylvania and four in Iowa.
Hiking, sledding and skiing were the ways to go yesterday – but not flying.
Thousands of travelers were stranded when airports serving New York, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia were largely shut down.
Amtrak put the brakes on service between Washington and Florida.
Even staying inside was no comfort to some residents who shivered when ice caused power lines to give way and left nearly 250,000 people without electricity in the Carolinas, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio.
Some residents in parts of Ohio said the ice was 8 inches thick. West Virginia also had to cope with flooding that left at least one town cut off by high water yesterday.
Firefighters said their job was tougher during major snowstorms.
Lt. John Zazulka of Squad 1 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, said: “This kind of thing isn’t fun until you’re back home playing with your kids.
“Everything takes longer. It takes a couple of minutes more just to get to the scene. Then you have to find the hydrants. And when you’re carrying the hose, you slip all over the place. No, it’s not fun.”
Kids, on the other hand, thought it was nothing but fun.
At the Toys ‘R’ Us in Times Square, more than 70 sleds were sold in the first three hours of business yesterday.
First through the door was Matt Moore from Washington Heights, who celebrated his 31st birthday by buying a sled and zipping off to Cherry Hill in Central Park.
“Even though I’m getting older, I still feel young at heart. I spent 20 minutes at work and thought, ‘There’s fun to be had in the snow,'” he said.
“Unfortunately, I don’t know where I’m going to put it in my apartment after today.”
With reporting by Dan Kadison, Ikimulisa Sockwell-Mason, John Lehmann, Laura Italiano, Neil Graves, Ryan Sabey, Frankie Edozien, Ed Robinson and Gersh Kuntzman
By the numbers
Estimated cost of snow cleanup: $1 million per inch
Sanitation Department snow budget for 2002-03: $19.7 million (exhausted)
Sanitation Department spending in 1995-96, when 7 feet of snow were cleared: $60 million
Number of sanitation workers currently on duty: 2,700 per 13-hour shift
Why some sanitation workers smiled as they worked: Time-and-a-half rate on Presidents Day
Base salary of sanitation worker: $48,000 after five years
Tons of salt on hand at start of season: 236,000
Tons of extra salt ordered: 180,000
Pieces of snow-clearing equipment in use: 1,700
How long it took to clear side streets after snow stopped in 1996 storm: 42 hours
TOP 6 SNOWSTORMS
The Blizzard of ’03 could be one of the heaviest in New York City history by the time it wraps up this afternoon. Here are the six biggest New York snowstorms:
* 26.4 inches, Dec. 26-27, 1947
* 21 inches, March 12-14, 1888
* 19.8 inches, Feb. 17, 2003*
* 20.2 inches, Jan. 7-8, 1996
* 18.1 inches, March 7-8, 1941
* 18 inches, Dec. 26, 1872
* As of 11:30 p.m.
Source: National Weather Service