Mayor Michael Bloomberg says today’s snowstorm won’t be as bad as the epic “Snowpocalypse” of 2010.
“We don’t think that people are going to be that inconvenienced,” the mayor said in a radio interview with John Gambling this morning.
Though he didn’t give any dire warnings about the storm, Mayor Bloomberg did have some advice about helping your neighbors survive the wintry weather.
“There are some people that it’d be nice if you checked in on them,” the mayor explained. “Somebody that might have a normal trip out for dialysis, make sure that they can get where they’re going. Or [for the] elderly that you don’t want them walking and slipping on the snow or ice, it’d be a good thing to knock on the door and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to the local bodega, can I get you a quart of milk or something like that?'”
With memories of Hurricane Sandy’s fatal flooding and 2010’s debilitating blizzard still fresh on the minds of many, some New Yorkers may be wary of storms. However, Mayor Bloomberg said there is a possibility of only minor flooding during tonight’s downfall and he hopes to have the streets cleared for traffic come tomorrow morning.
“A lot of people are buying food, just in case,” he said. “But my hope is that, by mid-morning tomorrow, all of the streets will have been plowed once or twice. It just depends on when the snow starts and when the snow ends.”
Mr. Bloomberg’s main storm preparation advice was for commuters to arrange to head home a little early in the evening, if at all possible.
“Our biggest concern is making sure that people get home from their day and that they don’t abandon their cars in the middle of the road,” he explained. “But we don’t think the snow’s going to come down hard enough where that should be a problem. We have an awful lot of tow trucks ready and we coordinated with all of the different agencies that have plows. … The M.T.A. is going to start having service changes, so be sure to check with them if you’re counting on mass transit to get home or to get in or out of town. I think if people just make sure that they leave early and don’t get stuck in tonight’s commute.”
Though Mayor Bloomberg said the city is “lucky” the storm is occurring on a Friday night ahead of lighter Saturday morning traffic, he said he wished the storm was scheduled to arrive later to avoid tonight’s rush hour.
“We’ll see,” the mayor said. “It’s supposed to start heavy snow about 4 or 5 o’clock.”