Heavy wet snow has complicated travel, caused power interruptions and forced many schools and government offices to shutter for the day.
The inclement weather triggered numerous closings and cancellations. Two major Capital Region shopping malls, Colonie Center and Crossgates, closer for the day as the snow that began last night continued falling.
Jackie Bray is New York’s Commissioner of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
"We're in the middle of a serious nor'easter storm that began around 11 p.m. last night in earnest and we expect to last through tomorrow morning," said Bray. "By and large, everyone seems to be doing OK, from the overnight. The roads are snow-covered but passable. We do have four counties with travel bans in place that everyone should respect, that's Schenectady, Ulster, Dutchess and Hamilton. Travel advisories are in the other eastern counties in the state. But as soon as the storm passes, cleanup will start. And I think we'll come through okay."
Ulster County lifted its travel restrictions at 11 a.m. But County Executive Jen Metzger says more than a dozen roads are closed due to downed poles, wires, and trees. Albany County Executive Dan McCoy tells WAMC the hilltowns were hit the hardest, with over 24 inches of snow in Rensselaerville and Berne.
“So we are saying to people, please stay off the road, please stay off the road, don't go on the road, not unless it's an absolute emergency," implored McCoy. "We already pulled, I think it was like 10 or 15 cars last night in ditches up in the hill towns. So people that decide to venture out in the middle of the snowstorm, you know, unfortunately went off the road and it takes time away from plowing. It takes time away from you know, emergency services, to pull people out of the ditch and to make sure you know, obviously, we want to make sure they're okay. So that becomes problematic. We've been staying on top of it. But it's gonna take time, and I just want to say to your listeners, you know, the snow hasn't come down as much as they said it was in the morning, but we're getting it, we're gonna get another batch. There's more snow coming in."
Glens Falls DPW Superintendent Tom Girard is asking people to be patient as crews deal with downed power lines and trees.
"We have about 7, 8 inches of very heavy snow, wet snow coming down," Girard said. "Several power lines, trees, branches snapping all over the city, from one end to the other. Our plow trucks are out. We have all-hands-on deck right now. Plow trucks are holding up pretty well. They called us in this morning around five o'clock this morning. We've been out since. Roads are in fairly good shape."
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has been in Albany monitoring storm developments.
"We opened our emergency operation center as early as 8 a.m. yesterday, and our crews had been out salting in advance of the first snow coming down as well as throughout the night," Hochul said. "So they're doing an extraordinary job, but in order for them to do everything they need to do as the snow continues to fall at pretty high rates throughout the day, we really need everybody off the roads so they can make sure the roads are clear, so we can get back to normal as soon as possible.”
Hochul spoke with WAMC this morning.
“We want to make sure people are home safely, but also our utility crews, of which there's over 8,000, who are pre-deployed to be able to handle this, that they can get out and be on the roads, make sure they can get the power restored as soon as possible," said Hochul.
Michael DiAcetis with National Grid urges customers to report outages.
"Obviously if you've lost power, you're not gonna be able to go in and log in online, you might not have internet service, but we have a really great mobile app," said DiAcetis. "So you can report an interruption that way. If you are looking for updates, you can type REG, or text REG to 64743 and you will receive periodic updates regarding the interruptions in your area. For additional real time info, you can visit our outage central website. Don't assume that we know that you're out, OK? I've had that conversation time and again, with all of my community stakeholders, if you're out, please let us know. It might be just your individual house. If you don't know, don't assume that we know. So we ask all of our customers to call us promptly at 800-642-4272."
Albany International Airport spokesman Doug Myers says several incoming flights were cancelled last night and 6 inches of snow had fallen on the tarmac by 8 a.m.
"The snow team has been working since 9:15 last night, and they'll work 12-hour shifts until the storm has cleared," Myers said. "It's going to take a couple of days because we pile a lot of snow near the terminal for the snow from the gate area and then that it's trucked away to a melting pad. So that's another couple of days of an operation to keep things clear. But we're in good shape. The afternoon is starting to shape up looking very good in terms of departures and arrivals after one o'clock this afternoon.”
According to poweroutage.us, close to 97,000 customers have lost power across New York. In Massachusetts, about 69,000 are in the dark, and nearly 37,000 Vermonters are awaiting restoration. In Connecticut, 7,000 customers are without power.
