Long Island was hit by a catastrophic snow storm and the effects were horrible.
As police stated, over 200 total crashes happened during and after the snow; one crash was the result of an intoxicated 20 year old man, who was arrested shortly after. He’s not the only one, however, as another man was also arrested for drunk driving, causing the death of two people when the car drove into a pole. Other crashes were what police called ‘minor crashes,’ being either the car sliding slightly off the road, minimal damage, or no injuries and fatalities to the diver and its passengers.
The snow itself wasn’t expected to gain much, starting off as light flurries, before snowballing overnight to a big blizzard. In one night, about 15-20 centimeters of snow fell, and temperatures dropped below freezing. To put that in perspective, that’s about 5-7 inches of snow, which can be imagined as the size of around a dollar bill standing upright, which is a LOT of snow, if you think about it. The snow caused a massive struggle for the street; overnight crew working into the night tried and melt the ice with salt rocks, an effective yet time consuming method. Most of the time, the crew had to work slowly to not slide off a trip, which quadrupled the work time to salt all the roads, and, even then, some crew workers even still slipped and got minor injuries.
Residents were also very concerned to drive, as news stations gave an announcement to not drive on the road unless necessary. Police are even advised to stay aware, showing how dangerous the ice and snow have to be, with police limiting officers to avoid accidents and collisions on the icy roads. One local man stated, “I have a granddaughter traveling today, and it’s making me very nervous. It’s very scary,” showing the people fearing for their family and loved ones’ lives due to the news of crashes and roads being closed to defrost. Thankfully, the snow crew’s progress of melting the ice off the roads is proving effective, as the usage of salt pebbles melt off the snow and provide stability to the roads, and police remain nearby on patrol on roads to watch over people and remind drivers to stay safe.
