Slow Snow Cleanup in New York and Jersey

Travelers in New York and New Jersey have been getting more and more frustrated about how slow the process of cleaning up the snow has been going. Many people are stuck at home and get to work. The severe snowstorm, which hit over the weekend, was the biggest seen in the northeast in the last few years and has brought travel to a halt.

The snowstorm caused the cancellation of at least 3,000 flights throughout the northeast during the first 2 days. Since then, even more delays and cancellations have been announced, though airports and airlines have been working to get backlogs cleared and services back to normal. Several places across the region suffered power outages, and much of this has been restored.

It’s obvious that some roads are still impassable, stranding and trapping travelers and residents in hotels, airports, train stations and homes. Although transport systems have started getting services moving again, it is still taking time to get everything back to normal, and it could be Friday or later before this happens.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has defended their response to the blizzard. They have been working as hard as possible and are using all resources available to them, he said. He noted that the unusual amount of vehicles stuck in the snow have made the clean-up process much harder, as they have prevented plows from clearing streets. There had been 600 city buses stuck on Tuesday, but there were only 50 as of Wednesday.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been criticized for going to Disney World on holiday while the state is struggling from the storm’s aftermath. There are still about 800 people without power in the state.