One to 3 inches of snow was expected — a far cry from the last storm — but any snow that melted likely froze overnight, resulting in patchy black ice to make for some slippery roads, the National Weather Service said.
The gigantic snowstorm this week left cities scrambling to clear towering heaps that were not showing signs of melting anytime soon.
By Tuesday evening, New York City had spread 143 million pounds of salt, according to Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and signed up at least 3,500 people as emergency shovelers. The $30-per-hour shifts involve clearing snow across public streets and bus stops.
Some sidewalks are impassable for people with disabilities
But there was plenty more work left to do, especially for the many people with disabilities.
Jeff Peters, spokesperson for the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York, described parts of the city as impassable islands.
“You’ll find a portion of a sidewalk that is clear, and then there’s maybe a 6-inch pathway that can only be walked with one foot in front of the other and no room for a stroller, rollator, walker or crutches,” Peters said. “Then you get to the corner and not only is it unshoveled, but you have basically a glacier at the end of it.”
Tina Guenette, who uses a motorized wheelchair, had to shovel out her yard this week after more than 33 inches fell in Harrisville, Rhode Island, a town about 17 miles northwest of Providence.
“I really have no choice if my service dog wants to go outside,” Guenette said Tuesday. Harrisville has a volunteer snow-shoveling program, but it hasn't had volunteers for the last few years, she said.
The storm unleashed massive amounts of snow
Monday’s storm blamketed the region with snow, canceled flights, disrupted transit, downed power lines and killed at least one person. More than 3 feet fell in Rhode Island — surpassing snow totals from the historic Blizzard of 1978 that struck the Northeast, the weather service said.
Meteorologist Ryan Maue, former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said if all of the snow that fell from Maryland to Maine fell just on Manhattan, the snow would tower over a mile high.
In Newport, Rhode Island, Joseph Boutros, 21, was found unconscious inside a vehicle covered in snow Monday night, the city’s police department said in a statement. The Salve Regina University student was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead due to carbon monoxide poisoning, police said.
In New York City, workers will use massive basins of warm water where large amounts of snow and ice will be dumped, acting Sanitation Commissioner Javier Lojan said. They helped melt 23 million pounds of snow during last month’s storm.
In snowbound Providence, Rhode Island, the city is taking snow to five locations, according to Josh Estrella, communications director for the city government. The challenge is so great that additional dumping grounds may be added, Estrella said.
