Officials Warn Of Dangers For Pedestrians As Icy Conditions Bear Down

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The icy weather coming Wednesday could make for some treacherous footing.

As CBS 2's Lou Young reported, everyone in the Tri-State Area was advised to make sure they tread carefully.

On Tuesday, chunks of the snow that fell the day before crashed down from the One57 building onto West 57th Street in Midtown. The incident happened just as the area became bracing for the next round that will include sleet and ice on Wednesday.

All over the area, it was already tough footing Tuesday on partially-shoveled walks.

"You got to walk in the street the majority of the time," said Dominique Malcolm of White Plains.

The entire area was a maze of cleared paths, partially cleared paths, and cold obstructions Tuesday, and everything was soon to become more slippery and more difficult to see.

A narrow shoveled path is fine to navigate in daylight, but not so much when it is frozen over, covered with a new layer of snow. Pedestrians can't see where the edges are.

"If you can stay indoors, by all means, do that," said Larchmont police Capt. Antonino Rigano. "If you have to go out, be careful."

Police throughout the area have been especially worried about the elderly and the danger below – and above.

"We still have plenty of ice and snow on top of the tree limbs and the power lines, so if we start plowing more snow and that ice on top of that, there's a potential for power lines to come down; tree limbs to come down," Rigano said.

Moving around White Plains, power lines were already straining and tree limbs appeared to be broken and stuck in limbs high above.

"Now you're going add ice, add snow – the branch starts to bend and it can break and fall," said arborist Michael Almstead of Almstead Tree Service.

And in the city, pedestrians are advised not to forget the smoking manholes and occasionally electrified street grids.

Last month, emergency rooms reported a spike in ice-related falls.

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