GOING NOWHERE!!! NORTHEAST TAKES A HIT: Region is on lockdown as monster blizzard bears down AIR TRAVEL DISRUPTED: Flights at Metro among the thousands that are canceled NEW YORK — Snow and powerful winds swept into the Northeast on Monday as a storm predicted to grow into a major blizzard prompted mass-transit shutdowns, highway closures, thousands of flight cancellations and a ban on driving on roads across a region that’s home to about 35 million people. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the closure of New York City’s subway and bus system as of 11 p.m. Monday, the first such closure since Superstorm Sandy hit the region in fall 2012. “This will most likely be one of the largest blizzards in the history of New York City,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio warned. He urged New Yorkers to go home and stay there, adding: “People have to make smart decisions from this point on.” Authorities banned travel on all streets and highways in New York City and on Long Island and warned that violators could be fined $300. Even food deliveries were off-limits on the streets of takeout-friendly Manhattan. The declarations meant the nation’s largest city would be brought to a standstill. The governors of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island also slapped restrictions on nonessential travel. The storm began slowly, with light snow falling gently in New York and the surrounding areas. By afternoon, winds had picked up, and the warnings from mayors, governors and emergency officials took on new urgency. Metal scraped against pavement as plows took to the streets to push fast-accumulating snow off to the side. “Everything we know so far makes clear you cannot underestimate this storm,” de Blasio said at a news briefing. He said city parks would close at 6 p.m. because of the danger of falling trees and branches. Schools, which were open Monday, were to be closed today. Businesses shut early, Broadway stages went dark, and state government offices closed. Utility companies put extra crews on standby in case of power outages. Last-minute shoppers elbowed each other to get the few groceries left. The storm even interrupted jury selection in the Boston Marathon bombing case and postponed opening statements in the murder trial of former NFL star Aaron Hernandez. “This is going to be a blizzard. It is a serious blizzard,” said Cuomo, who joined the governors of New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Massachusetts in declaring at least partial emergencies in their states. Across the region, all but essential state employees were let out of work early to prevent them from being on roads in the evening, when the storm was expected to pick up strength. “Stay home if you can,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said, or only go out in “an absolute emergency or necessity.” Thousands of flights into and out of Northeastern airports, from Boston to Philadelphia, were canceled through today. Stores quickly sold out of items including milk and eggs and shovels and rock salt. “You should have seen the shovels we had lined up there,” said Linda Harris, a greeter at a Lowe’s in South Philadelphia, as she pointed to a nearly empty wall. “You got to get up early in the morning. They started coming in at 7.” The only supplies left by late morning were a few oversized shovels, a dwindling pile of salt and one green disc-shaped snow sled. Philadelphia was not expected to get anywhere near the snowfall totals predicted for New York, but forecasters kept people anxious. “We know we’re going to get something,” said Frank Cassel. “We just don’t know what.” To the north and east, though, there was no question what was to come: 1-3 feet of snow, along with wind gusts of 40-70 m.p.h. The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning from southeastern New York and northeastern New Jersey up to northeastern Maine. “It appears many of the major metropolitan areas will be affected anywhere from Philadelphia through New York City and into Boston,” the agency said in a statement. By early afternoon, Penn Station, a major transit hub serving Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit and city subways, was humming with travelers hoping to reach their destinations before the brunt of the storm hit. One of them was Vincent Yeager, who had put in a morning’s work at his office job before heading home early to Hazlet, N.J. He expected to be back to his normal routine by Wednesday. “Everyone always overreacts, thinking it’s going to be the end of the world, but it’s really just Mother Nature,” Yeager said. Another traveler, Debbie Corbett of Buffalo, N.Y., had respect for nature’s wrath. She experienced a storm that dropped 7 feet of snow in Buffalo in November. Corbett and her 15-year-old daughter, Clare, cut short their visit to New York and were waiting to catch a train back to Buffalo, where only light snow was forecast. “In November, we were trapped in our house for days,” she said, adding that New Yorkers were wise to prepare for a worst-case scenario. On Sunday, as he delivered his first warning of the blizzard, de Blasio held up a list showing the worst recorded snowfalls in New York. They included a 2010 blizzard that dropped more than 20 inches of snow and hit the day after Christmas; a February 2006 storm that brought more than 2 feet of snow to the city, and one in February 2003 that killed at least two people in the city and 42 people nationwide. A snowstorm two years ago left scores of vehicles stranded on the Long Island Expressway, and the November Buffalo storm was blamed for a dozen deaths. They included at least one person buried in his car on the side of a highway. Stuart Aion, a sales executive in New York City, bundled up Monday and trudged down his snow-covered street in Caldwell, N.J., to board a bus to work as snowflakes filled the air. His bus was nearly empty, a sign that most people had decided to work from home or take a snow day. Aion, who gave his new generator a test run Sunday, said he planned to leave work early and stay home today. “There’s no point trying to fight my way in,” he said. Scott Murphy of Haddonfield, N.J., was making the most of the snow. He had affixed a plow to his pickup and planned to be up all night plowing and earning money. “You make it while you can,” he said, before heading off to catch a pre-blizzard nap.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 18:17:11 +0000