Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of Emergency effective from midnight on March 13th. The move follows as part of preparations for a bad snowstorm to wreak its effects over the city over the next day. He told the press, “We’re going to be hit with a tremendous challenge in the coming hours.”
De Blasio also said that the storm would be at its worst in the early morning hours. Snow was to begin falling at midnight with its largest accumulation starting between the hours of 5 and 6 a.m. Meteorologists reported the intensive accumulations would go on for more hours past six in the morning. The mayor also gave his predictions on how bad the storm would be. He said, “We expect this storm overall to be in the range of 16 inches to 20 inches of snow, with a high end of up to 24 inches.”
Above Ground Transportation for New York City’s subway service was shut down from today 4 a.m. This was as a result of dangerous snow storms blowing into the area, increasing the risk involved in transportation because of impairing vision as well as the possibility of snow piling on the rails. Trains underground are still scheduled to convey people as usual.
Governor Andrew Cuomo chose to have above ground Transportation halted. Notably, the Mayor had no disagreements about the decision. “We agree with that decision, but obviously want to see real coordination before any decision on a travel ban or anything like that,” he told reporters.
Transportation by MTA bus services is expected to run as scheduled. However, the mayor pointed out that the company’s services could reduce by as much as 30 percent depending on the degree of the storm. Services by city buses could also be discontinued depending on the state of the roads during and after the snowstorm.
Commuters were trying to find alternative means of their transportation. Rayquan Hodges, one of these commuters, said, “I’ll just try to find anything that’s working at the time during tomorrow.” He cited his concerns as to the possibility of it being harder to get around saying, “… It will probably be more of a hassle.”
De Blasio also explained that there was a high possibility they would ban city driving on the roads as has been done on previous occasions. Despite the claim, taxi driver Durvir Singh said he would continue to offer his services on the streets of New York. I’ve been doing this for 20 years, so I’ve been through many, many storms,” he said. Singh went on to say that due to his experience, he works every time regardless of the city’s weather conditions.
The city’s public schools will also be closed prematurely. De Blasio noted that their closure was earlier than usual this year. However, he explained that it was for the safety of everyone. “This is an unusually early call, but we’re seeing this snowstorm hitting exactly at the time when parents will be trying to move around with their children,” he said.
In the City University of New York, NYU’s New York campus and Columbia University, classes were to be canceled. Further, most school events and activities scheduled for Tuesday were also canceled pending the snowstorm.
The blizzard warning is in effect with areas as far as Philadelphia. The state of New Jersey has also declared a state of Emergency because of the snowstorm.
