Posted on 12/28/2010 9:05:10 AM PST by dragnet2
Washington: The US National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for parts of New York, New Jersey and other states along the east coast of the United States as a major winter storm bears down on the area on Sunday.
A band of frigid weather was snaking up the East Coast on Sunday, promising blizzards and a foot of snow for New York City and New England, while several states made emergency declarations as the storm caused crashes on slick roads.
Heavy snow and blizzards in parts of North Carolina were making driving conditions difficult, and there were dozens of traffic accidents.
North Carolina authorities reported a fatal traffic accident near Charlotte.
The North Carolina Highway Patrol said late on Saturday that most of the roads in and around Asheville were either covered or partially covered with snow and ice.
Columbia, in South Carolina, had its first significant Christmas snow since weather records were first kept in 1887.
Airlines grounded hundreds of flights on Sunday along the Northeast corridor in anticipation of the storm, affecting major airports including New York's John F Kennedy Airport and Newark.
New York City-area airports alone cancelled close to 1,000 flights.
Residents of Secaucus in New Jersey have been buying shovels and sacks of sand in local supermarkets, preparing to fight severe weather conditions.
The Northeast is expected to get the brunt of the storm.
Forecasters issued a blizzard warning for New York City for Sunday and Monday, with a forecast of 11 to 16 inches (28 to 41 centimetres) of snow and strong winds that will reduce visibility to near zero at times.
A blizzard warning was also in effect for Rhode Island and most of eastern Massachusetts including Boston
A blizzard warning is issued when snow is accompanied by sustained winds or gusts over 35 miles-per-hour (56 kilometres-per-hour).
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter declared a snow emergency as of 2 p.m. (and he urged residents to stay off the roads.
In Washington DC, transportation officials treated roads with salt and readied 200 salt trucks and ploughs in preparation for the six inches (15 centimetres) of snow to fall in the Mid-Atlantic region.
In Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino declared a snow emergency that bans parking on all major streets.
By early Sunday, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina had also declared states of emergency.
Amtrak cancelled several of its trains in Virginia.
No question about it, they’re good! The mounds of plowed snow along the roads after the last big one were massive and some lanes went from three to two or two to one. But once you could get out of your driveway and onto the road, there were no issues getting anywhere else.
Snowmobilers better enjoy it while they can...sunny with temps in the 40's over the next week will melt most of the snow rather quickly...
The best one that shows the size of the banks relative to a person on a normal residential street.
People grumbled about all the snow but no one is griping about the way it was taken care of.
New Yorkers, stop complaining about the snow: City Hall is doing its best to recover from blizzard
LOL - I gotta remember that quote!
Mayor Bloomberg..
New York Citys emergency system was overwhelmed by the blizzard that dumped 20 inches of snow, leaving vehicles marooned and ambulances unable to reach the sick, injured and dying, Bloomberg said.
You can give us any grade you want, Bloomberg told reporters at a press conference at a Bronx hardware store today. We did not do as good a job as we wanted to do, or as the city has the right to expect.
I am extremely dissatisfied with the way our emergency- response systems performed, Bloomberg said. In some cases it took hours to respond to serious requests.
Dead Baby
A woman who gave birth in a Brooklyn apartment building waited 90 minutes for an ambulance to reach her. When it did, the newborn baby was dead, according to Frank Dwyer, a Fire Department spokesman.
In Queens, Yvonne Freeman, 75, died when she had difficulty breathing and her daughter, Laura, couldnt reach a 911 operator.
the large number of stuck cars, trucks and buses, which made street-clearing more difficult, he said. More than 600 buses were stalled in snow yesterday, Bloomberg said.
The post- Christmas storm led to the cancellation of almost 8,000 flights.
City Council President Christine Quinn, a political ally of the mayor, The collective storm response was not anywhere near up to the standards New Yorkers are accustomed to, Quinn said in a statement. This is unacceptable. New Yorkers have serious questions about the citys snow emergency policy and response.
The Daily News headlined its coverage of the mayors response today: Bloomberg to City: Snow Sorry.
Tough times mean tough budget cuts result in a reduced labor force, ... With reduced budgets and reduced funding, hes doing the best he can.
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