Emergency Management Commissioner: Stay off the Roads Tomorrow, Work from Home

  By Yehudit Garmaise

   As the city springs into action to prepare to make the roads and conditions safe after a possible eight to 12 inches of snow starts to fall, starting tomorrow night, and ending Thursday morning, the New York City Emergency Management Department Commissioner Deanne Criswell has also issued a hazardous travel advisory that will be in effect from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday night.

    During that time in which the city will see extremely wintry weather that it has not seen for several years, “New Yorkers are advised to please stay off of roads, if you do not need to be on the roads,” Criswell said at a press conference today. 

   “This is a serious storm,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio, who added that people need to take it seriously. 

      The mayor reiterated the city’s “most important and specific request: if you are planning to drive tomorrow, to work or to anything else, please do not take your car into Manhattan or into anyplace else tomorrow if you can avoid it."

     In fact, the mayor strongly encouraged New Yorkers to work from home tomorrow and Thursday, or if they must go to work to use mass transit. 

    “Please, if at all possible, do not drive in: we are really concerned about a lot of traffic coming in and then having a really tough time getting back out with that evening rush hour tomorrow," the mayor said. 

   “Obviously, Thursday morning is going to be even worse, so please plan ahead.”

     In addition to intense snowfall, the mayor added that wind gusts could be as high as 50mph, visibility will be compromised, and the streets will likely be icy.

   Sanitation trucks will be out tonight doing anti-icing treatments with brine, also spreading salt in advance of the snowfall, said the mayor, who also said that as soon as the snow accumulates, the city’s snowplows are ready to start clearing it away.