New Yorkers Bracing For Snow As Potentially Major Nor'easter Heads Towards Tri-State Area
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Tri-State Area officials and residents are getting ready, bracing for the potentially major Nor'easter on its way.
Ahead of one of the biggest winter storms forecasted in recent years, crews were out Saturday night getting the roads ready for the winter weather.
Salt crews in one of New York City's sanitation yards were loading up and covering roadways and bike lanes, hoping to create a barrier to help stop the snow and ice from building up on streets.
While some who spoke to CBS2's Cory James didn't know about the severe weather expected to hit our area, others are feeling ready.
"The quarantine has kind of prepared you for having stocks of food at home, so I feel like it's not too concerning," said Antonio Prieto, in Hell's Kitchen.
"I don't think it will affect me too much. I'm working from home," Hell's Kitchen resident Matthew Rodgers said.
But it likely will affect restaurants like Three Roosters. The manager is worried food delivery companies will stop service and outdoor dining structures will have to close, a change the city enforced during the last storm back in December.
"They're scared that, you know, maybe the things that we built outside is going to collapse because of the snow storm," he said.
He says he's considering closing the restaurant Monday.
SNOW TIMELINE: 6" To 12" For Most Of Tri-State, 18" Possible Northwest Of NYC
Meanwhile, the frigid temperatures are creating a lot of business for one plant nursery in Harlem. Firewood shelves have been left empty at Urban Garden Center on 117th Street, where they say they've sold over 900 bundles of wood just this week.
They're now completely sold out of firewood and are waiting on their next shipment.
The plant nursery says it's been swamped with calls from people in the Tri-State Area placing orders for wood ahead of the winter storm. They say they have not seen this kind of business since Christmas.
"If it wasn't cold, we wouldn't be making anything," Alex Gatanas, a partner at Urban Garden Center, said.
Gatanas says the majority of their customers are in Manhattan and Brooklyn, but lately, they have had a lot of people coming from Long Island and Westchester.
"We just keep on selling firewood as fast as it comes in," he said. "Because of availability of wood, there's been a little bit of a shortage. I guess maybe they weren't able to cut down as many trees as they needed to in places."
MORE STORM INFORMATION FROM NYC:
- Guidance on restaurant preparations
- Severe weather guidance
- Department of Sanitation snow operations
- Track NYC snow plows
Places like Nassau County are also preparing for the storm.
Mountains of salt were piling up inside the Department of Public Works garage Saturday.
Local officials are getting supplies, gear and trucks ready, anticipating what could be heading our way.
"We are expecting blizzard-like conditions with wind gusts of up to 55 miles per hour," Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said. "We are hearing from our experts that it could be anywhere between 6 to 12 inches, and we are expecting more accumulation down on the South Shore."
That kind of snow storm signals the importance of taking precautions – to protect you and road crews out working.
"I know that you hear us say this every single storm to please stay off the roads, and this time it is really important," Curran said. "For the sake of all the crews out there, whether they're town, village, county or state, please stay off the roads as much as you possibly can."
The town of Huntington on Long Island is doing the same thing.
"We're here today. Actually, we've been replenishing our salt supply, and we had about 1,500 tons of salt delivered today between this location and our open yard facility," Huntington Highway Superintendent Kevin Orelli said. "So we will of course be prioritizing our main roads first and then getting to our secondary and residential streets."
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called on state agencies to prepare for the storm. He says the Department of Transportation has 2,300 pieces of snow equipment, like snow plows and front-end loaders, ready to respond.
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