At about Noon this past Sunday, December 26th, the 6th-worst deluge of snow fell on the New York City Metropolitan area. In the area surrounding New Rochelle, NY 22 inches fell while Staten Island and parts of New Jersey received 29”. In time, autos and buses stopped rolling as the drifts reached 4-5 feet. Even rail transportation saw severe delays and even cancellations as the day wore on. New Rochelle and other municipal governments declared snow emergencies for the blizzard conditions at hand.
On Monday the 27th, Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road cancelled their commuter service. Metro-North had hourly Sunday service initially but eventually gave up the ghost as switch and signal woes befelled the New Haven line and was followed by the Harlem and Hudson before long. The Long Island Rail Road cancelled their schedule for the first of two days.
New Jersey Transit suspended bus service and cross-honored those tickets on commuter trains into New York Penn Station. Air traffic never took off as entire fight schedules were scuttled and terminals became temporary residences. In New Rochelle, Bee Line buses were nowhere to be found. The Post Office began ‘not guarantee-ing’ their next day mail service as those deliveries would be postponed somewhat. Shovel snow? It didn’t feel good when the flakes came back to hit you in the face. In short, it became a day to stay home as that’s all you could do.
Tuesday the 28th proved better with some rail service into Manhattan with reduced schedules and cancelled LIRR trains ruling the day. According to published media reports that in New York City, many streets were left unplowed in the surrounding boroughs and emergency equipment unable to reach their destinations. My experience in Downtown New Rochelle was seeing plowed streets with SUVs being driven at summertime speeds that are dangerous in snow/ice.
With warmer temperatures melting some of the snow on Wednesday, the rail transportation picture improved and Bee Line buses resumed operation. By Thursday, normal train schedule advisories were being sent out to the public by the commuter railroads.
Let’s hope the weekend rains don’t cause floods with the melting snow. If the floods happen, it might be a good time to use that new row boat I got on the 25th. Jet skis anyone?
Note: To see 12/28/2010 New Rochelle, NY photos on my blog, click on the link:
http://railientrails.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-york-metro-area-swamped-with-2-3.html